Solana Tests 'Alpenglow' Upgrade to Enable Near-Instant On-Chain Settlement

Solana has moved its 'Alpenglow' upgrade to the public devnet, aiming to reduce transaction finality time from approximately 12.8 seconds to 150 milliseconds. The upgrade replaces the current TowerBFT voting system with the Votor system, which allows validators to communicate votes directly and aggregate them into cryptographic certificates. This change is designed to make blockchain settlement speeds comparable to traditional digital payments, enabling merchants and exchanges to confirm transactions almost immediately.