[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko (아나톨리 야코벤코) said Solana’s major upgrade, Alpenglow, could be released as early as this year, more specifically by the third quarter, CoinDesk reported on May 5 (local time).

Yakovenko said at the Consensus Miami 2026 event, "The Alpenglow launch seems like it will happen this year, within the third quarter," adding it was "an interesting stage in the protocol’s evolution."

Alpenglow is focused on making Solana faster, more predictable and safer.

Blockchain networks require multiple computers to work together to agree on the ordering of transactions, a process that can create delays or uncertainty depending on network conditions.

With Alpenglow, Solana aims to improve this process and deliver transaction finality at a level close to the speed of light, the physical limit on how fast information can travel around the world. For users and developers, that means being able to confirm more quickly that a transaction is final and that the foundation for building applications becomes more stable, CoinDesk said.

Yakovenko said Alpenglow marks a shift for Solana from an early, high-throughput-centered design to a more mature stage focused on ensuring performance and reliability. He said it would be a particularly important change for financial applications, where milliseconds can affect transactions and payments.