Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade could make it smarter and faster. Here’s why investors should take note

By Karim AbdelMawla

Solana is gearing up for a major upgrade, and investors should keep an eye on it. The proposed Alpenglow update aims to significantly enhance the network’s already impressive speed and scalability, potentially redefining what the Solana blockchain can deliver. For investors, that means one thing: greater utility could translate to greater upside.

Alpenglow is all about speed

Unveiled by Anza, a research firm spun out from Solana Labs, this consensus mechanism upgrade promises to transform Solana's performance capabilities and position it as a direct competitor to Web2 (the current version of the internet that most people use today) infrastructure, like the CME and NYSE.

It aims to slash Solana’s transaction finality time from about 12.8 seconds to just 150 milliseconds. That’s an 85x improvement, putting Solana’s performance in line with centralized Web2 systems. If implemented, Alpenglow would significantly boost Solana’s speed and responsiveness, opening the door to new types of blockchain applications and firmly positioning it as one of the fastest smart-contract platforms in the crypto space.

‍

Why should Solana’s proposed upgrade matter to investors?

The Alpenglow upgrade is anticipated to make Solana more attractive to users, whether they’re validators or builders locking Solana (SOL) in smart contracts. 21Shares believes Solana will be more appealing to its users for the following reasons: 

1. Transaction confirmation times will be slashed from approximately 13 seconds to 0.15 of a second (faster than a blink), enabling real-time usage like in-game purchases or on-chain stock trades. 
2. Communication between validators will be simplified, like switching from group texts to private calls.
3. Solana could handle up to 20% of malicious validators and another 20% of offline ones without breaking down.
4. Imagine replacing a winding highway with a straight tunnel; that’s how Solana’s new upgrade simplifies its data delivery system.

What are the potential use cases for Solana’s Alpenglow?

Alpenglow could dramatically expand Solana's utility for applications requiring real-time performance. Industries that might benefit include:

• High-frequency trading and financial applications requiring instant settlement
• Real-time multiplayer games with on-chain actions
• Payment systems competing with traditional financial networks

This expanded utility could increase demand for SOL tokens needed to pay for transactions, potentially driving price appreciation.

Alpenglow is a big deal for SOL investors because it massively boosts Solana’s speed, reliability, and appeal to developers and institutions. It potentially unlocks new use cases like real-time trading, instant payments, and tokenized assets, which could drive much higher demand for the SOL token.