All eyes in the market are on Solana (SOL) ahead of a major network upgrade dubbed 'Alpenglow' scheduled for the 21st (local time). According to overseas crypto media outlet CoinGape, the upgrade aims to shorten Solana's transaction finality time to around 150 milliseconds (ms), with forecasts that finality could become roughly 85 times faster than before drawing significant attention.

Mainnet Beta Deployment at 2:50 p.m. on the 21st... The Fruits of 18 Months of Development

Solana development firm Anza announced that the Alpenglow upgrade is scheduled to be applied to mainnet beta at around 2:50 p.m. (UTC) on the 21st (local time). The upgrade is the outcome of roughly 18 months of development work aimed at improving the blockchain's consensus mechanism.

Solana's current transaction finality time is known to be about 12.8 seconds. Citing Anza's announcement, CoinGape reported that Alpenglow focuses on reducing the current multi-second finality time to approximately 150 milliseconds. SolanaFloor, a media outlet covering Solana news, also evaluated Alpenglow as the most important consensus upgrade since Solana's launch. CoinGape explained that if Alpenglow works as intended, transaction finality could become about 85 times faster than before.

TowerBFT to Be Replaced... New Voting Mechanism 'Votor' Introduced

The upgrade replaces 'TowerBFT,' the consensus mechanism Solana has used since its launch. Alpenglow combines consensus research breakthroughs with a data dissemination method using erasure coding, designed to allow network participants distributed across different regions to reach consensus faster.

Notably, the introduction of a new voting mechanism called 'Votor' is drawing attention. According to CoinGape, Votor is a technology that changes how validators exchange consensus information. Instead of recording votes as transactions on the blockchain as before, validators directly exchange messages and combine them in the form of certificates. This allows blocks to be finalized with just one or two rounds of voting. In addition, as vote transactions disappear from the blockchain, block space available to general users is likely to increase.

Price Remains Weak... SkyAI Sells 1 Million SOL Holdings

Despite expectations for Alpenglow, Solana's price has recently shown weakness. According to CoinGape, at the time of reporting, Solana was trading at $107.8, up about 0.3%, with 24-hour trading volume rising 52% over the same period to $4.07 billion. However, amid continued selling pressure across the broader cryptocurrency market, Solana has fallen more than 10.5% over the past seven days.

Adding to the burden on investor sentiment, news emerged that a company holding Solana sold half of its holdings. Citing an announcement by blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, CoinGape reported that SkyAI recently sold 1 million SOL, with the sold amount valued at approximately $107 million. SkyAI is reportedly still holding another 1 million SOL. CoinGape noted that market discussion continues over whether these remaining holdings could translate into additional selling pressure and affect Solana's price.

Will a Successful Upgrade Lead to a Price Rally?

If Alpenglow is successfully applied, trust among developers, application operators, and investors who prioritize network performance may also increase. CoinGape predicted that with shorter transaction finality times, the Solana network could be utilized for new services requiring near-instant transaction processing.

However, some analysts say it is difficult to assume that technological advancement will directly translate into a rise in Solana's price. CoinGape pointed out that broader cryptocurrency market sentiment and liquidity conditions, Bitcoin's price movements, and whether actual network adoption expands will remain key factors influencing Solana's price going forward.

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