Solana climbs on Alpenglow
Biggest core protocol change
Layer-1 blockchain Solana is already known for speed, low transaction fees and scalability so it is little wonder than analysts and users are salivating over its latest consensus upgrade.
A recent white paper shows that the upgrade, dubbed “Alpenglow”, is set to take the platform to even greater heights.
Alpenglow, designed by Solana-focused engineering team Anza, is all about hyper-performance.
It is designed to make the platform’s consensus faster and more efficient.
In crypto, consensus refers to how every node in a blockchain agrees on the same state of transaction
Alpenglow also addresses issues of security and resilience when the network is disrupted.
“We believe that the release of Alpenglow will be a turning point for Solana. Alpenglow is not only a new consensus protocol, but the biggest change to Solana’s core protocol since, well, ever,” Anza’s Quentin Kniep, Kobi Sliwinski, and Roger Wattenhofer wrote in the white paper.
Finality issues
To dive deeper into the Alpenglow upgrade, it is important to first understand why it has happened.
Solana has always stood out for its model, which uses Proof of History (PoH) to establish an order of events that can be verified, in combination with its Tower Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) mechanism.
BFT comprises consensus algorithms that ensure a distributed network keeps working even in cases when nodes fail to respond or misbehave.
The intention of the Tower BTF is to leverage PoH’s timing guarantees.
The problem for Solana has been that its consensus has required constant validator voting.
It is not hard to work out that this drives up operational costs.
Another issue relates to slower deterministic finality – the final confirmation of a block.
When some validators go offline, the network becomes a lot more vulnerable.
Tech takes off
Alpenglow tackles these problems through a high-performance layer that enables finality in a single round, thereby reducing overheads and boosting resilience of the network even in the most testing circumstances.
It also makes better use of bandwidth by preventing wastage of validator capacity.
What the upgrade effectively has done is place Solana among the most technologically-advanced proof-of-stake blockchains in the crypto universe.
For developers specialising in applications like decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols, games and real-time data networks, it is the gift that keeps on giving.
For investors, a Solana that is even more impressive than it already was in terms of speed and performance instils greater confidence.
If the Solana price USD index could smile, it would be beaming.
Sentiment rocket fuel
When the upgrade was put on the table, almost 100% of community participants voted in favour.
The decision was completely understandable given that Alpenglow is specifically designed to deliver millisecond transaction finality.
But where does the upgrade fit into the bigger picture as Solana looks forward?
Seemingly, it has come along at a time when projections for the blockchain are largely positive.
Inflows into Solana exchange-traded funds have (ETFs) been consistently good, indicating institutional confidence is healthy.
Solana’s futures market is also expanding.
If the platform is already creating bullish sentiment, an upgrade like Alpenglow will only increase it unless the market is struck by major upheaval.
