Solana Surges Past $210 as "Alpenglow" Upgrade Promises Sub-Second Finality

The cryptocurrency has delivered double-digit weekly gains, outperforming most major altcoins, as the community begins voting on a new consensus model designed to dramatically increase transaction speeds and boost network responsiveness.

NEW YORK – The price of Solana (SOL) continued its strong upward momentum, reaching $211 on the back of rising investor optimism surrounding a proposed network upgrade known as "Alpenglow." The digital asset posted a 3% daily gain and significant double-digit weekly growth, with trading volumes surging by 43% as traders anticipate a breakout beyond the $212 resistance level.

The market rally is directly linked to the introduction of the Alpenglow consensus upgrade, which recently entered its community voting phase. Investor confidence has been bolstered by the proposal's potential, reflected in a 6.78% increase in Solana futures open interest, which surpassed $13 billion according to Coinglass. At the same time, retail sentiment has turned highly bullish, with data from Santiment showing the strongest positive-to-negative comment ratio in 11 weeks.

The Alpenglow proposal, filed under SIMD 0326, aims to drastically reduce block finality time from an average of 12.8 seconds to just 150 milliseconds. Developed by Anza, a spinoff of Solana Labs, the upgrade would replace the existing Proof of History and Tower BFT mechanisms. The community voting process, which requires a two-thirds majority for approval, has shown strong early support from major validators and developers.

If approved, Solana would achieve sub-second finality, a critical milestone that could significantly enhance its appeal for institutional adoption and real-time DeFi operations. The upgrade is designed to improve both the developer experience and user responsiveness, making the network better suited for high-frequency decentralized applications in finance, gaming, and social media.

Industry experts believe the upgrade could solidify Solana's competitive edge. Greg King, CEO of REX Financial, highlighted its potential in the expanding stablecoin market, noting that Solana's enhanced efficiency could position it as a formidable competitor to Ethereum, the current market leader. "Solana has the right technology to become a major stablecoin player," King stated.