Solana’s 150-millisecond settlement upgrade reaches second public test network
The Solana blockchain has launched a new upgrade called Alpenglow on its test networks, aiming to reduce transaction finality time to 150 milliseconds. This technical improvement is designed to speed up payment processing and fund transfers across the network.
Why it matters
Significant reductions in latency are critical for blockchain networks to compete with traditional financial systems in real-world payment applications.
Called Alpenglow, the upgrade targets roughly 150 milliseconds for finality, the point at which a transaction can no longer be reversed, compared with about 12.8 seconds under the existing system.
That could shorten the wait for an exchange to release deposited funds or a payment app to tell a merchant a sale is complete.
Anza, the company building Solana’s core software, announced the developer-network switch on Sept. 25 , a day after the separate testnet completed its transition. The Solana Foundation’s upgrade page lists Alpenglow as active on both networks.
Developers use the developer network, or devnet, to check applications with tokens that have no real value. The separate testnet is used primarily to stress-test network software and validator operations.
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