Solana begins Alpenglow mainnet activation to cut finality to 150ms
Image: Crypto BriefingSolana's Alpenglow upgrade began mainnet activation on October 21, 2026, with activation pegged to epoch 1064. The consensus overhaul retires TowerBFT and targets finality of about 150 milliseconds, down from 12.8 seconds. Validators need Agave-based clients, typically version 4.3.2, and pay a 0.8 SOL per-epoch Validator Admission Ticket fee. Reported transactions per second may drop temporarily.
Key points
- Alpenglow targets finality of about 150 milliseconds, compared with 12.8 seconds under the previous system.
- Validator votes are no longer recorded as transactions inside blocks, so reported transaction counts may fall without user activity falling.
Why it matters
Finality is when the network treats a transaction as settled and cannot be reversed, so the target change aims to shorten the wait before a payment is settled. Reported transaction counts may dip without a fall in user activity.
What's unclear
The finality actually reached on mainnet is not yet confirmed, the Solana Foundation says performance depends on network conditions, while testnet medians reached 54 milliseconds.
Price context · SOL
At publication
$106.01
Now
$82.88
Change since
−21.82%
7 days
Sources · 6 publishers
Bitcoinist
Tier 2
Solana Counts Down To Alpenglow Upgrade With Faster Finality In Focus
Crypto Briefing
Tier 2
Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade aims to cut finality time to 150 milliseconds
Crypto Briefing
Tier 2
Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade set to enhance transaction speeds in 19 hours
Crypto Briefing
Tier 2
Solana activates Alpenglow upgrade, cuts transaction finality to 150ms
Crypto Briefing
Tier 2
Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade set to cut finality to 150ms
Cointelegraph
Tier 1
Solana’s Alpenglow launches on mainnet, targets 99% faster finality
Bitcoin.com News
Tier 2
Solana’s Alpenglow Upgrade Goes Live, Promising 99% Faster Finality
AMBCrypto
Tier 2
Alpenglow Solana upgrade begins activation, targeting 150ms transaction finality
Coverage timeline
- First reported by Crypto.news
- Also reported by Bitcoinist
- CryptoVideos brief published
- 5 more publishers added to sources
- Brief updated
How this page is checked. AI drafted this brief from selected independent reports. Automated checks compare numbers, source coverage and topic terms, but may miss errors. Publication and evidence refreshes run automatically. Read the linked reports for context. Report an error
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