--- title: "Solana activates Alpenglow consensus upgrade on mainnet" description: "Solana validators retired TowerBFT and switched the live network to the Alpenglow consensus protocol, cutting transaction finality from about 12.8 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds, core engineering team Anza said, as reported by Decrypt. Anza CEO Brennan Watt called it the largest blockchain…" language: en canonical: "https://whycoinmoves.com/en/events/ethereum-solana-alpenglow-goes-live-most-6aae598c1cea40" published: 2026-10-21T14:27:37.000Z updated: 2026-10-22T14:29:21.000Z indexable: false --- # Solana activates Alpenglow consensus upgrade on mainnet Solana validators retired TowerBFT and switched the live network to the Alpenglow consensus protocol, cutting transaction finality from about 12.8 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds, core engineering team Anza said, as reported by Decrypt. Anza CEO Brennan Watt called it the largest blockchain… Attributed sources: [Decrypt]() ## Key facts Solana validators retired TowerBFT and switched the live network to the Alpenglow consensus protocol, cutting transaction finality from about 12.8 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds, core engineering team Anza said, as reported by Decrypt. Anza CEO Brennan Watt called it the largest blockchain upgrade since Ethereum's Merge. Evidence strength: Single source, 1 publisher group(s) (Decrypt); this describes source coverage, not truth or causation. After site detection, observed returns were 5 minutes: -0.24% (difference from BTC -0.14 pp; 21/10/2026, 14:27 → 21/10/2026, 14:33, UTC; Gate · USDT); 1 hour: +0.98% (difference from BTC +0.51 pp; 21/10/2026, 14:27 → 21/10/2026, 15:28, UTC; Gate · USDT); 24 hours: -3.04% (difference from BTC -0.18 pp; 21/10/2026, 14:27 → 22/10/2026, 14:27, UTC; Gate · USDT). Unlisted windows are unavailable. In the preceding 30 days, the 99th percentile of absolute hourly returns was 1.46% (OKX · USDT; cutoff 21/10/2026, 14:27, UTC). This hourly baseline is not directly comparable with a minute move. ## Returns after site detection | Window | Return | BTC | Difference from BTC | Actual sampled interval (UTC) | Source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 5 minutes | -0.24% | -0.10% | -0.14 pp | 21/10/2026, 14:27 → 21/10/2026, 14:33 | Gate · USDT | | 1 hour | +0.98% | +0.47% | +0.51 pp | 21/10/2026, 14:27 → 21/10/2026, 15:28 | Gate · USDT | | 24 hours | -3.04% | -2.86% | -0.18 pp | 21/10/2026, 14:27 → 22/10/2026, 14:27 | Gate · USDT | ## Historical hourly baseline | Metric | Value | | --- | --- | | Ready | true | | Coverage | 100.0% (720/720) | | Median absolute hourly return | 0.19% | | 99th percentile of absolute hourly returns | 1.46% | | BTC beta | 1.17 | | Source / cutoff (UTC) | OKX · USDT / 21/10/2026, 14:27 | ## Claims and open questions - Anza said Alpenglow went live on the main network, with validators retiring TowerBFT at slot 459,653,000 around 14:00 UTC, per Decrypt. - Anza said finality time fell from about 12.8 seconds under TowerBFT to roughly 150 milliseconds under Alpenglow, Decrypt reported. - According to Decrypt, validators approved the upgrade in September 2025 with 98% in favor of proposal SIMD-0236. - Does Anza or the Solana Foundation plan to publish post-launch metrics confirming the roughly 150-millisecond finality on mainnet? - What timeline, if any, have Anza or Solana set for the planned Rotor and geographically aware leader rotation upgrades? ## Source evidence - [Solana Alpenglow Goes Live in 'Most Ambitious' Upgrade Since Ethereum's Merge]() — Decrypt; published 21/10/2026, 14:24; received 21/10/2026, 14:27 (UTC). ## Recent ETH events and market reactions - [Ethereum postpones Glamsterdam upgrade on Hoodi testnet over contract risk]() — Published 23/10/2026, 04:59 (UTC) · Multiple publishers (2 publishers) · Project updates · 5m +0.18% / 1h +0.24% - [Ethereum developers postpone Glamsterdam upgrade on Hoodi testnet]() — Published 22/10/2026, 00:00 (UTC) · Official source (1 publisher) · General news · 5m -0.08% / 1h +0.06% - [Drift exploit-linked wallets move Ether into Tornado Cash]() — Published 20/10/2026, 12:38 (UTC) · Multiple publishers (2 publishers) · Security · 5m +0.01% / 1h -0.15% / 24h +2.97% - [Bitmine adds 12,535 ETH, reaching 6.04 million tokens in treasury]() — Published 19/10/2026, 15:13 (UTC) · Multiple publishers (2 publishers) · General news · 1h -0.30% - [JPMorgan deploys JPM Coin deposit token on Ethereum mainnet]() — Published 19/10/2026, 17:31 (UTC) · Multiple publishers (4 publishers) · General news · 5m -0.03% / 1h -0.39% - [Full coin archive]() ## Research for this archive - [Altcoin beta to Bitcoin: BTC, ETH, SOL and DOGE hourly returns]() - [Perpetual funding rates and annualized yield: a 2025 comparison]() - [Crypto listing and delisting effects: an OKX price study]() - [XRP lawsuit and Ethereum ETFs: reading SEC filings and rulings]() [Methods and limitations]() Publisher count is not independent evidence count. Price changes cannot verify news or prove causation.