Solana Labs offshoot Anza pitches ‘biggest change’ ever to network consensus
Anza has proposed a new proof-of-stake consensus protocol called Alpenglow for the Solana blockchain, which aims to be the most significant change to its core protocol. Alpenglow includes Votor for processing voting transactions and block finalization, and Rotor for data dissemination, replacing the current proof-of-history system. The expected finality time is around 150 milliseconds, allowing Solana to compete with Web2 infrastructure in responsiveness. Votor aims to finalize blocks in one round with 80% stake participation or two rounds with 60%. This model is designed to enhance finalization latency and performance under adverse network conditions. However, Alpenglow will not eliminate past network outages, and Solana currently relies on a single client, Agave, for production. An independent validator client, Firedancer, is expected to launch soon, providing client diversification.
