TLDR
- Solana price climbed to $211 with a daily increase of 3 percent and higher trading volumes.
- The Alpenglow upgrade entered the voting phase and aims to reduce block finality to 150 milliseconds.
- Developers and validators expressed strong support for the upgrade which could enhance speed and reliability.
- Retail sentiment reached its highest level in eleven weeks with bullish comments dominating community discussions.
- Solana showed double digit weekly gains and outperformed most leading altcoins in the market.
Solana continued its upward trend as the price reached $211, marking a 3% daily increase with strong market activity. Trading volumes surged by 43%, while bullish momentum strengthened as traders anticipated a breakout beyond the $212 resistance. Analysts confirmed Solana outperformed most leading altcoins with weekly double-digit gains.
The surge followed the introduction of Solana’s new consensus upgrade, known as ‘Alpenglow’, which entered the community voting phase. Market participants linked the strong performance directly to expectations surrounding the faster consensus model. According to Coinglass, Solana futures open interest rose 6.78%, surpassing $13 billion.
At the same time, retail enthusiasm grew notably, with sentiment metrics showing the highest optimism in nearly three months. Santiment reported a bullish-to-bearish comment ratio of 5.8, the strongest reading in 11 weeks. This optimism aligned with Solana’s recent recovery above the $200 level.
New Solana Upgrade Aims at Sub-Second Finality
The Alpenglow proposal, filed under SIMD 0326, entered community voting across Epochs 840 to 842, with each epoch lasting two days. It seeks to reduce block finality time from 12.8 seconds to just 150 milliseconds, enhancing responsiveness. Developed by Anza, a Solana Labs spinoff, the upgrade intends to replace Proof of History and Tower BFT.
Voting began with a turnout of 9.87% at Epoch 840, with 9.76% in favor, nearing the two-thirds majority required. Major validators and developers expressed support, highlighting potential improvements in speed and reliability for advanced decentralized applications.
“This is a significant step forward for Solana,” said one developer.
The consensus change formalizes previously tested “optimistic confirmations” into a faster and verifiable framework. If approved, Solana will deliver sub-second finality, a milestone that could transform institutional adoption and real-time DeFi operations. The upgrade is positioned as a cornerstone for Solana’s next growth stage.
Expanding Use Cases and Market Outlook
Alpenglow’s design enhances both developer experience and user responsiveness, making Solana more suitable for high-frequency and real-time platforms. Industry experts highlighted its potential to boost applications in finance, gaming, and social interaction. Consequently, increased on-chain activity could strengthen demand for the SOL token.
Greg King, CEO of REX Financial, emphasized Solana’s emerging role in the expanding stablecoin market. He noted Solana’s efficiency could provide a competitive advantage over Ethereum, the current market leader.
“Solana has the right technology to become a major stablecoin player,” King stated.
