April 19, 2026
Anza, a leading company focused on blockchain infrastructure for Solana, has made a major overhaul of Solana’s core protocol. Introducing a new consensus mechanism called Alpenglow, this development promises a new era for the Solana ecosystem.
In a May 19 blog post, Anza describes Alpenglow as the “biggest change” to Solana’s architecture since its inception. This innovation journey is set to transform Solana’s biometric identity.
The new protocol replaces the current TowerBFT and Proof-of-History (PoH) systems with an architecture built around two crucial components: Votor and Rotor. Votor handles the voting and block finalization processes, while Rotor acts as the data distribution protocol. Unlike the current design, which relies on gossip-based communication and PoH for timestamping, Alpenglow introduces direct messaging and erasure-coded data distribution. Rotor builds on Solana’s existing Turbine model, but minimizes network hops and improves node relay selection.
Votor introduces a dual-mode voting mechanism that attempts to finalize blocks in a single round when at least 80% of the stake is active, or within two rounds if participation drops to 60%. Both modes run simultaneously, allowing the protocol to finalize blocks via the fastest route. Anza estimates that this upgrade can reduce the median block finalization time to around 150 milliseconds, and even to 100 milliseconds in optimal conditions.
Such latency estimates, based on simulations, bring Solana’s performance closer to that of traditional Web2 infrastructure. “A median latency of 150 ms doesn’t just mean Solana is fast — it also means Solana can compete with Web2 infrastructure in terms of responsiveness. This opens the door for blockchain technology to entirely new types of applications that require real-time performance,” point out Anza’s Quentin Kniep, Kobi Sliwinski, and Roger Wattenhofer.
The protocol also features a “20+20” resilience model. This means that the network can remain secure and active even if up to 20% of validators are behaving maliciously and another 20% are offline or unresponsive. This design takes into account both hostile threats and real-world conditions such as outages or latency issues, and aims for consistent finality even under degraded network performance.
While Alpenglow is expected to introduce significant improvements to network latency and resilience, Anza notes in his whitepaper that the upgrade alone will not prevent all future outages, especially given its current reliance on a single validator client. Solana has experienced frequent network outages in recent years, often due to congestion and overloaded validators. Its current architecture, which operates without a mempool and processes transactions on the fly, makes it particularly vulnerable to spikes in transaction volume, especially during busy periods.
Anza plays a critical role in improving Solana’s infrastructure by contributing to Agave, the network’s primary production-grade validator client. The company continues to optimize the client’s performance, and most recently contributed to Agave v2.2, which increased compute unit limits and improved transaction efficiency.
“The technology of the future is already here,” Anza says proudly. “Let’s take this journey together.” Do you want to be part of the revolutionary world of blockchain? Step in and explore the possibilities!
What is Alpenglow?
Alpenglow is a new consensus mechanism proposed by Anza to significantly overhaul Solana's core protocol, aiming to improve network latency and resilience.
How fast is the blockade finalization with Alpenglow?
Anza estimates that median block finalization could drop to around 150 milliseconds and possibly 100 milliseconds in ideal conditions.
How does Alpenglow ensure network security?
The protocol introduces a “20+20” resilience model that ensures the security of the network even if up to 20% of validators behave maliciously and 20% are offline.
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