Solana starts testing upgrade that could cut finality from 12.8 seconds to 150 milliseconds. September 22, 2026 - By CoinDesk - Original Solana is testing the Alpenglow upgrade to reduce transaction finality from 12.8 seconds to 150 milliseconds, enhancing payment irreversibility. Confidence: 80% Horizon: short-term Key numbers. * 12.8 seconds * 150 milliseconds * 4 months * September 28 Market drivers (micro). * Increased transaction speed for exchanges and merchants. * Improved user experience with faster payment confirmations. * Enhanced network efficiency through new consensus mechanism. Context (macro). * Growing demand for faster transaction processing in blockchain. * Competitive pressure among blockchain platforms to enhance performance. Who wins / who loses. * Winners: Solana users, exchanges, and merchants benefiting from faster transactions. * Losers: Competing blockchains that may struggle to match Solana's speed. Scenarios. Base The Alpenglow upgrade successfully reduces transaction finality, leading to widespread adoption by users and businesses. Alt The upgrade faces technical challenges, delaying its implementation and limiting its benefits. What to Watch next. * Monitor the results of the Alpenglow testnet phase. * Watch for the confirmation of the mainnet update date. * Observe the response from the Solana community and validators. Full analysis. Solana's Alpenglow upgrade: A leap towards instant finality. Solana, a leading blockchain platform, has begun testing a significant upgrade known as Alpenglow. This upgrade is poised to drastically reduce the time it takes for transactions to be considered final, from the current 12.8 seconds to an impressive 150 milliseconds. This enhancement is crucial for the ecosystem, as it allows exchanges, bridges, and merchants to treat payments as irreversible almost immediately, thereby improving the overall user experience. What is Alpenglow? The Alpenglow upgrade is now being introduced on Solana's public test network, which is a replica of the blockchain that uses tokens without monetary value. This environment allows developers to test the migration, identify potential issues, and restart the network without risking users' funds. The upgrade replaces Solana's existing TowerBFT consensus mechanism with a new protocol called Votor. This new system enables validators to finalize blocks after just one or two rounds of direct voting, significantly streamlining the process. Benefits of the upgrade. The reduction in transaction finality time is particularly beneficial for various stakeholders in the crypto ecosystem. Exchanges typically wait for finality before crediting deposits, while bridges need it to release funds on other blockchains. Merchants also rely on this finality to ensure that payments cannot be reversed. With Alpenglow, these processes will become almost instantaneous, enhancing the efficiency of transactions on the Solana network. Testing and implementation. The initial migration to the testnet requires validators to use Agave 4.3, the main software that runs Solana. However, the upgrade does not yet support Firedancer or Frankendancer, two alternative validator programs developed by Jump Crypto. These alternatives are designed to reduce reliance on a single piece of software, ensuring that a fault in Agave does not impact all validators simultaneously. The absence of these programs means that the first Alpenglow migration will run entirely through Agave. Anza, the company responsible for developing the Solana network, has tentatively scheduled the mainnet update for September 28. However, this date is not confirmed, and the testnet switch itself was still pending as of early Wednesday. Conclusion. In summary, Solana's Alpenglow upgrade represents a significant step forward in enhancing transaction speeds and efficiency on the blockchain. As the testing phase progresses, the community eagerly anticipates the potential benefits this upgrade will bring to the broader crypto ecosystem.

Visa settled $20B in stablecoins. Now it's running the blockchain. The payment giant became a founding validator on Circle's Arc L1, joining BlackRock and DTCC. The dual-chain strategy marks a shift from using blockchain infrastructure to operating it. Nolan Pratt Forkast mind | 2026-09-22 3:51 AM PDT Visa has officially crossed the threshold from a financial institution experimenting with stablecoins as a payment rail to a core operator of blockchain infrastructure. By joining the founding validator cohort for Circle's Arc L1, the payments giant is no longer just routing traffic; it is helping to secure the road itself. This move, which includes institutional heavyweights like BlackRock, DTCC, Mastercard, and ICE, signals that the industry is moving past the era of crypto-native experimentation into a phase of hardened, institutional-grade infrastructure. The trajectory of this transition is stark. In November 2025, Visa's stablecoin settlement volume sat at a $3.5 billion annualized run rate. By April 2026, that figure had climbed to $7 billion, and by September, it had surged to an annualized $20 billion. This 15x year-over-year growth confirms that Visa's strategy has moved from pilot programs to production-scale utility in under twelve months. Visa's current approach relies on a dual-chain strategy that separates production settlement from institutional validation. Solana remains the primary venue for production settlement, working with partners like Cross River Bank and Lead Bank on a seven-day cycle. But the Arc L1 blockchain, which launched its mainnet on September 16, 2026, serves a different purpose. It is a permissioned, USDC-native environment designed specifically for financial markets and agentic AI economic activity. As Rubail Birwadker, Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships at Visa, said regarding the commitment: Arc represents the kind of compliant, high-trust network infrastructure needed to help support the growth of onchain payments. Visa is proud to participate as a validator and help secure it. This validator role is a structural shift. Visa is now operating the network, providing the oversight and stability that traditional financial partners require to move money at scale.

Solana launches STOCKLANA platform with 24/7 stock trading. 2026-09-19 12:22:47 Key takeaways. * Solana announced the launch of STOCKLANA, enabling 24/7 stock trading with prize competition. * STOCKLANA features a prize competition with rewards exceeding $125,000 for user engagement. * The platform offers a unified experience for trading both stocks and cryptocurrency assets. Solana announced the launch of STOCKLANA, a platform enabling 24/7 stock trading alongside a prize competition exceeding $125,000. The initiative aims to enhance user engagement in the cryptocurrency trading sphere by providing continuous trading capabilities. Solana operates as a high-performance blockchain designed for decentralized applications and crypto projects, positioning this launch as part of its effort to diversify offerings in the trading ecosystem. STOCKLANA platform features 24/7 trading and prize competition. The STOCKLANA platform allows users to trade stocks around the clock while participating in a prize competition with rewards exceeding $125,000. The announcement garnered 619 likes and 80 retweets on Solana's official social media post, indicating community interest in the launch. The platform emphasizes a unified experience for trading both stocks and cryptocurrency assets. Solana blockchain platform background. Solana is a high-performance blockchain designed for decentralized applications and crypto projects. The platform's introduction of STOCKLANA represents an expansion of its service offerings beyond traditional cryptocurrency trading. The initiative aligns with demand for continuous trading platforms in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Faq. What is STOCKLANA and what does it offer? STOCKLANA is a platform launched by Solana that enables 24/7 stock trading and features a prize competition exceeding $125,000 in rewards. What is Solana's role in the cryptocurrency ecosystem? Solana is a high-performance blockchain designed for decentralized applications and crypto projects, now expanding into continuous stock trading services through STOCKLANA. Disclaimer: The information on this page may come from third-party sources and is for reference only. It does not represent the views or opinions of Gate and does not constitute any financial, investment, or legal advice. Virtual asset trading involves high risk. Please do not rely solely on the information on this page when making decisions. For details, see the Disclaimer.