Cryptoupdated 1h ago2 min read
Solana Sets Oct. 21 for Alpenglow Upgrade Targeting 150-Millisecond Finality
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Alpenglow upgrade set for October 21 targets 150-millisecond finality on Solana mainnet-beta. It will replace TowerBFT with a new consensus protocol to improve efficiency.
Alpenglow Date Set
Solana scheduled its Alpenglow upgrade for Oct. 21, aiming to target transaction finality in about 150 milliseconds by changing how the computers running the network agree on payments.
Solana’s timetable sets the transition for the start of epoch 1064 at approximately 15:00 UTC on Oct. 21, and the network will keep using the legacy voting system for the first 5,000 slots before switching about 18 minutes later.
Anza positioned Alpenglow as the largest consensus change in Solana’s history, and the Solana Foundation described it as “the largest upgrade in Solana's history.”
Solana’s current TowerBFT voting system will be replaced by a mechanism that moves validator voting off-chain, with validators exchanging votes directly and aggregating approvals into certificates to finalize blocks after one or two voting rounds.
Finality, Fees, and Metrics
Solana expects Alpenglow to reduce transaction finality from the current roughly 12.8 seconds to approximately 150 milliseconds, while the 150-millisecond figure remains a target with actual performance depending on network conditions. Solana said the upgrade will eliminate the current voting charges of roughly 1 SOL per epoch and replace them with a flat participation fee of 0.8 SOL.
Solana warned that vote transactions will be removed from blocks, so Solana’s transaction count may fall sharply even if user transactions and settlements continue at the same level as before. Solana also said the change in counting methodology could alter transaction-volume metrics, and payment providers and bridge services should be able to verify transaction finality more quickly once Alpenglow is introduced.
Migration Requirements
Solana said validators must use software built on Agave 4.3.0 for the migration, and Firedancer and Frankendancer operators will need to switch software temporarily because those clients will not support the initial transition.
Solana scheduled the Alpenglow transition to begin during Epoch 1064 at about 3 p.m. UTC on Oct. 21, and the migration is expected to begin around 15:00 UTC on Oct. 21.
Solana said the switch will replace TowerBFT, the voting system Solana has used since its launch in 2020, and it will let validators exchange votes directly and combine enough approvals into a certificate.
Anza’s plan also described a feature gate approach, with the migration running through a feature gate, SIMD-0384, which activates at an epoch boundary and delays the handoff until 5,000 slots later.