- Solana’s proposed Alpenglow upgrade, developed by Anza, aims to overhaul its consensus protocol by introducing Votor and Rotor, potentially cutting block finalisation time to 150 milliseconds.
- The upgrade replaces core systems like TowerBFT and Proof-of-History, targeting Web2-level speeds, but it won’t resolve Solana’s network outage issues, which stem from its reliance on a single validator client.
Solana’s underlying consensus architecture may soon see its most radical rewrite yet thanks to Anza, a blockchain infrastructure company spun out of Solana Labs.
Anza proposed a new consensus model dubbed Alpenglow, which it claims would replace core elements of the network’s design and push it toward Web2-level performance. But take it from the research team:
Alpenglow is a consensus protocol tailored for a global high-performance proof-of-stake blockchain. We believe that the release of Alpenglow will be a turning point for Solana. Alpenglow is not only a new consensus protocol, but the biggest change to Solana’s core protocol since, well, ever.
Roger Wattenhofer, Head of Research at AnzaThe proposal introduces two key components: Votor, a voting-based mechanism for finalising blocks, and Rotor, a data propagation system meant to sidestep Solana’s existing proof-of-history (POH) setup. Together, the pair is positioned as a replacement for Solana’s current TowerBFT and timestamping systems.
In other words, the upgrade would reduce block finalisation time to roughly 150 milliseconds, which is fast enough, says Anza’s research team, to put Solana in the same latency tier as traditional internet infrastructure.
So, if 80% of stake is responsive, Votor is designed to finalise blocks in a single round. If that drops to 60%, a second round kicks in. Both paths run in parallel, and whichever finishes first secures the block.
Related: SEC Delays Several Crypto ETFs, Stalls on DOGE, SOL, XRP Filings
No, The Upgrade Won’t Fix Network Outages
Despite the performance claims, Alpenglow won’t solve Solana’s recurring network outages. The white paper admits as much, noting that Solana still depends on a single functioning validator client. Any bug or exploit in that client, Agave, can take down the entire network.
A second client, Firedancer, is in development and expected to launch later this year. Until it’s live on mainnet, the structural fragility remains.
Interestingly enough, Solana’s new upgrade comes a few weeks following Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade, which is the biggest one since The Merge. Through Pectra, at least eleven new Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) were implemented.
The ETH price skyrocketed (finally), surging past US$2,7k (AU$4.2k). On the contrary, SOL’s price is currently struggling to maintain the US$170 (AU$264) level, even despite the Alpenglow announcement.
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