Alpenglow replaces Proof of History and TowerBFT with Votor (lightweight voting in 1-2 rounds) and Rotor (optimized block propagation). Validators approved the change with 98.27% support.
Solana already handles 1,600–3,800 TPS with sub-cent fees ($0.0001–$0.005 per tx). Alpenglow keeps this economics while fixing the finality bottleneck.
Shorter confirmation times reduce risk for payment channels, DeFi composability, and cross-chain bridges. Applications see confirmed state milliseconds instead of seconds after transaction broadcast.
Ethereum targets ~12-second finality; Bitcoin needs ~10 minutes. At 150ms, Solana becomes unambiguously the fastest-confirming major blockchain, if testing succeeds.
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