Solana strips PoH, targets 150ms finality with Alpenglow upgrade
Solana's official roadmap reveals Alpenglow will slash confirmation times to 150ms by eliminating Proof of History and onchain vote transactions, while introducing a 1.6 SOL Validator Admission Ticket and boosting CU capacity to 100M.
In the year of our algorithm, Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade isn’t just another consensus tweak—it’s a surgical removal of the system’s historical scaffolding. Proof of History and onchain vote transactions are being excised to hit 150ms confirmation times [^claim_1841]. The official network-upgrades page confirms Alpenglow is under development and expected by Agave 4.1 [^claim_1841]. In their place comes a Validator Admission Ticket (VAT) costing 1.6 SOL per validator per epoch, effectively gating validator-set membership with a recurring fee [^claim_1842]. This is like the Medici banking family charging a membership fee to sit at the table—removing vote transactions frees block space, paving the way for higher CU capacity [^claim_1842].
That capacity is quantified: SIMD-286 proposes raising the block limit from 60 million CUs to 100 million CUs, a 66% boost [^claim_1844]. Larger transactions are also coming via SIMD-296, expanding the current 1,232-byte maximum to enable more expressive atomic composition [^claim_1845]. On the networking side, XDP reduces validator latency by up to 200x, and early testing shows 100M compute unit blocks are achievable when operators adopt it [^claim_1850]. The latency on that script was zero; it hit the target.
Validator economics are being reshaped too. SIMD-123 enables validators to automatically share transaction fees, priority fees, and MEV with delegators at epoch end [^claim_1843]. The protocol calculates and distributes the remaining revenue based on stake, aligning incentives between validators and stakers [^claim_1843]. The yield on compliance just went ex-dividend.
While Solana pushes execution performance, Swift is advancing institutional settlement. Seventeen banks across six continents are preparing to test live transactions on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger for round-the-clock cross-border payments using tokenized deposits [^claim_1846]. The ledger is designed to settle stablecoins and tokenized assets across multiple blockchains, working alongside existing payment rails [^claim_1847]. Tokenized deposits are described as digital versions of commercial bank money [^claim_1848]. The interface was cold, like a Swiss vault door.
On the enforcement side, Europol’s IOCTA 2026 reports that over EUR 1.3 billion in Bitcoin have been mixed through Cryptomixer since its creation in 2016 [^claim_1849]. That figure underscores the persistent regulatory scrutiny on privacy tools. The market was bleeding red like a bruised arm.
For crypto-native infrastructure, the implications are direct. Solana’s Alpenglow roadmap positions it as a high-throughput, low-latency execution layer for DeFi, with MEV redistribution built in. Swift’s shared ledger competes with L1/L2 payment rails, especially for tokenized deposits and cross-chain settlement. And the Europol data reinforces the compliance burden on privacy protocols and chain-analysis heuristics.
Bottom line: Solana is betting on radical simplification—removing PoH and vote transactions—to achieve 150ms finality and 100M CU blocks. Swift is bringing 17 banks onto a shared ledger for 24/7 settlement. The market should watch whether Alpenglow’s VAT and MEV redistribution attract or repel validators, and whether Swift’s ledger becomes a settlement layer that bypasses public blockchains for institutional flows.
Provenance ledger
10 claims web-citedEvery claim below cites a source URL, and each URL was checked for validity before publish. The excerpt shown is the researcher's own summary of the page — it is not re-derived from the source, so it is not a verified verbatim quote. Follow the link to confirm any claim against the original. Citation markers in the text jump here.
[1] Solana’s **Alpenglow** upgrade is still under development and is expected by **Agave 4.1**; the protocol targets **150ms confirmation times** and removes both **Proof of History (PoH)** and **onchain vote transactions**. web-cited
“STATUS: 🟡 Under development. Expected by Agave 4.1… Alpenglow is a state-of-the-art consensus protocol that will bring 150ms confirmation times to Solana. Existing protocol features such as Proof of History (PoH) and onchain vote transactions will be removed…”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.
[2] Solana says Alpenglow introduces a **Validator Admission Ticket (VAT)** costing **1.6 SOL** per validator per epoch, and that removing vote transactions should increase **CU capacity**. web-cited
“Alpenglow introduces the concept of VAT (Validator Admission Ticket). VAT is a 1.6 SOL fee that validators must pay to be included in the consensus set each epoch… With the introduction of VAT, Alpenglow paves the way for faster block times and increased CU capacity with the removal of vote transactions from blocks.”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.
[3] Solana’s upgrades page says **block revenue distribution** is being added via **SIMD-123**, allowing validators to share **transaction fees, priority fees, and MEV** with delegators automatically at epoch end. web-cited
“SIMD-123 enables validators to share this block revenue with their delegators automatically through the protocol… The protocol will automatically calculate and distribute the remaining revenue to delegators at the end of each epoch based on their stake.”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.
[4] Solana’s current roadmap also lists **100M CUs** as an upcoming change, with the block limit rising from **60 million CUs** to **100 million CUs** via **SIMD-286**. web-cited
“The current limit is 60 million CUs per block. SIMD-286 proposes increasing this limit to 100 million CUs, a 66% boost in capacity.”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.
[5] The Solana upgrades page says **larger transactions** are planned under **SIMD-296**, with the current maximum transaction size of **1,232 bytes** being expanded to support more expressive atomic composition. web-cited
“Transactions on the Solana network are currently limited to a maximum of 1,232 bytes… Core engineers have accepted SIMD-296 to enable more expressive transactions that can interact with more programs and accounts in a single atomic operation.”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.
[6] Swift said **17 banks** across **six continents** are preparing to test live transactions on its **blockchain-based ledger** for round-the-clock cross-border payments using **tokenized deposits**. web-cited
“A roster of 17 banks are preparing to begin testing live transactions on Swift's blockchain-based ledger… Swift said the ledger is ready for initial use by banks across six continents… Its aim is to allow banks to move funds for customers overnight and on weekends…”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.
[7] Swift’s ledger is designed to settle transactions involving **stablecoins and tokenized assets across multiple blockchains** while working **alongside current payment rails**, not replacing them. web-cited
“Swift… announced the development of this shared ledger platform in October. It then said it would allow banks to settle transactions involving stablecoins and tokenized assets across multiple blockchains, working alongside current payment rails, not replacing them.”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.
[8] Swift describes tokenized deposits on the new ledger as **digital versions of commercial bank money**. web-cited
“Swift, said the system gives banks a shared layer for tokenized deposits issued on their own ledgers. Tokenized deposits are digital versions of commercial bank money.”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.
[9] The Europol IOCTA 2026 PDF says that since its creation in **2016**, more than **EUR 1.3 billion in Bitcoin** were mixed through **Cryptomixer**. web-cited
“Since its creation in 2016, over EUR 1.3 billion in Bitcoin were mixed through the service.”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.
[10] Solana’s current roadmap says **XDP** can reduce validator networking latency by up to **200x**, and early testing shows **100M compute unit blocks** are achievable when operators adopt it. web-cited
“XDP is a high-performance networking technology… This reduces latency by up to 200x. Agave version 3.0.9 and later supports XDP for block propagation… Early testing shows that 100M compute unit blocks are achievable when validator operators adopt XDP.”
This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.