Solana activated its Alpenglow consensus upgrade Oct. 21, setting a 150-millisecond finality target and changing how validator votes affect transaction totals used to compare network activity.
Finality is the point at which a blockchain treats a transaction as irreversible. The upgrade targets bringing that wait down from about 12.8 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds; the shorter figure is a design target.
Alpenglow also changes the records behind transaction counts. In Votor, validators exchange votes directly and group them into certificates instead of recording each vote as a block transaction. Totals that leave out votes provide a more useful basis for comparing activity across the upgrade. Counters that include validator votes and those that omit them cover different sets of records, so their figures are not directly interchangeable.
Anza has said faster finality may help merchants and exchanges settle payments and deposits sooner, as EconoTimes previously reported on validator adoption.
