Solana’s biggest network change since 2020 is live. Here’s how users benefit

Alpenglow actually makes those transactions faster, giving apps a way to show users their money has arrived with stronger assurance that the payment will hold. Such a benefit is especially useful when a service needs to release funds or goods immediately after receiving payment.

An exchange could credit a deposit sooner, letting a customer trade with the funds. A shop accepting a stablecoin payment could confirm it without keeping the customer at the counter waiting for settlement.

How quickly that reaches a user’s screen also depends on the service handling the payment. Anza, the company behind Solana’s Agave software, told CoinDesk in a release that some computers receive finality information later than the validators voting directly.

The 150-millisecond figure remains a target under normal network conditions, rather than a guaranteed time for every payment.

Users can continue sending funds through their existing wallets. Transaction fees and the way applications run remain unchanged.

The speed comes from changing how validators, the computers checking transactions and agreeing on the network’s records, communicate.

Meanwhile, there is also a change readers may notice on network dashboards. Validator votes no longer appear as blockchain transactions, so services that counted them will report lower transaction totals.