Solana moves Alpenglow into testnet as SOL nears January highs
Summary
Solana has begun testing Alpenglow, a consensus overhaul intended to reduce transaction finality from about 12.8 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds. Its Votor phase replaces onchain validator votes with direct messages and certificates; a later Rotor phase will replace block-data distribution. The rollout will proceed from testnet to devnet and mainnet-beta, requiring validator and infrastructure adjustments. The upgrade leaves Solana’s programs, transactions and fees unchanged. The report also notes recent network performance upgrades, increased real-world asset activity and trading, and SOL’s recovery, while presenting a venture investor’s expectation that SOL could surpass ETH in market capitalization.
