Solana's Alpenglow Upgrade Reaches Devnet, Cuts Transaction Finality Target

Alpenglow, the latest upgrade to Solana's network, has reached its developer network (devnet), allowing application teams to test a system that aims to reduce transaction finality from around 12.8 seconds to approximately 150 milliseconds.

The upgrade replaces on-chain validator vote transactions with direct votes that can finalize a block in one or two rounds. Applications that only send transactions and read balances do not need to migrate, but block-data services must update their systems to handle the changes brought about by Alpenglow.

According to Solana Foundation's upgrade page, Alpenglow is now active on devnet and testnet but has not been activated on mainnet. Anza, which develops Solana's core validator software, announced the devnet switch on September 25, one day after testnet completed its transition.

For developers, the new devnet stage means they can check applications against Alpenglow without waiting for the system to reach the blockchain that handles users' funds. Solana's mainnet continues to use TowerBFT, so the 150-millisecond figure remains a target for the planned upgrade rather than a finality time available to users today.