Overview

• Validators and stakers passed SIMD‑0326 with 98.27% yes and 52% of stake participating, formally greenlighting the Alpenglow redesign.
• Alpenglow replaces Proof‑of‑History and TowerBFT with Votor and Rotor, aiming for roughly 100–150 millisecond finality and lower inter‑node bandwidth.
• The upgrade shifts voting off‑chain and introduces a Validator Admission Ticket reported at 1.6 SOL per epoch, alongside new leader and aggregator reward mechanics.
• Developers expect a testnet release by the Breakpoint conference in December with a planned mainnet rollout in Q1 2026, with some operational details still being finalized.
• SOL rose above $200 after the vote, while analysts cited by multiple outlets project potential moves toward $215 in September and $250 by year‑end, noting reported institutional holdings of about $1.7 billion.