Solana's new Consensus protocol "Alpenglow" proposal aims to enhance performance.

## Claiming the potential to compete with Web2

On the 19th, Anza, the development studio of the cryptocurrency Solana (SOL) derived from Solana Labs, proposed a new consensus protocol called "Alpenglow."

By implementing this, it is theoretically claimed that Solana could become faster and have the potential to compete with Web2 infrastructure in terms of responsiveness.

"Alpenglow" introduces "Votor", which takes over the voting and block finalize logic, replacing the TowerBFT proof-of-stake consensus mechanism that constituted the previous core protocol.

What is PoS?

Abbreviation for "Proof of Stake". The holding period of the cryptocurrency may also be taken into account. It was created as an alternative to the consensus algorithm "Proof of Work (PoW)" that requires high-performance computers and involves significant power consumption for transaction approval. When approval is granted, the newly issued cryptocurrency can be received as a reward.

According to Anza, under TowerBFT, Solana takes about 12.8 seconds from block creation to block finality (when a block is ultimately recognized by the entire network).

On the other hand, according to simulations based on the current mainnet stake allocation at Alpenglow, it is expected to achieve actual finality in about 150 milliseconds (median). Note that a millisecond is one thousandth of a second.

Anza stated that this high speed could enable the Solana blockchain to be used for an entirely new category of applications that require real-time performance.

It is also suggested that the release of Alpenglow will be a significant turning point for Solana.

The specific mechanism is that "Votor" does not use the current node's "gossip model" (which communicates information randomly to other nodes), but instead executes a faster "direct communication primitive" (where nodes communicate directly with specific counterparts) to carry out block confirmation voting.

A group of nodes votes to decide whether to approve a block or skip the block if it arrives late or is deemed unreliable.

A block is approved in one round if 80% of the stake approves it, and in two rounds if 60% approves it. Anza claims that by using a parallel voting track, it enables faster and more scalable processing, reducing block processing time to between 100 and 150 milliseconds.

Furthermore, the new protocol "Alpenglow" will also introduce the data delivery subprotocol "Rotor".

"Rotor" is an improvement on the existing block propagation protocol of Solana. It is based on the current system "Turbine", which distributes blocks across the entire network, but unlike "Turbine"'s hierarchical multi-layer tree structure, it features a single-layer relay node.

As a result, Rotor can minimize the number of network hops (the number of relay nodes that data passes through).

In addition, there are companies that are adopting Solana as part of their financial strategy. NASDAQ-listed DeFi Development Corp. (formerly Janover) holds 595,988 SOL as of the 12th, including staking rewards.

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