The post Solana (SOL) Price in 2026: Possible Catalysts appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

In 2024-2025, Solana (SOL) evolved from yet another non-EVM chain to a strong contender of Ethereum (ETH) and its L2s. In 2026, the protocol is up for dramatic enhancements in terms of decentralization and performance. Alpenglow: Biggest revamp in Solana’s history Expected to happen in H1, 2026, Alpenglow represents the most significant reconsideration of Solana’s core protocol in its history. The Solana community voted overwhelmingly (98%) in favor of this upgrade in September 2025, as U.Today previously reported. CARD: https://u.today/solana-to-work-80x-faster-with-this-upgrade-what-is-alpenglow  Alpenglow will reduce transaction finality from roughly 12.8 seconds to just 100-150 milliseconds, or about 100 times faster. To put it in perspective, this would be faster than a Google search, which averages around 200 milliseconds, and significantly faster than Visa or Mastercard. At peak- Solana: 3,200 TPS, $0.006 feesBase: 1/10 throughput, 500× the costEthereum: 1/100 throughput, 10,000× the cost There’s really only one viable chain for internet capital markets (yes that’s a log chart) pic.twitter.com/NZM7dwxytf — Mary Gooneratne (@marygooneratne) October 11, 2025 The upgrade introduces two new components called Votor and Rotor, which replace Solana’s existing proof-of-history and Tower BFT systems. Alpenglow moves validator voting off-chain, reducing costs and clearing space for user transactions.  Sub-second finality would enable real-time applications like decentralized exchanges, gaming and payment systems to feel as responsive as traditional web services. Simply put, it will make the Solana (SOL) blockchain suitable for almost every financial operation and transaction that can be imagined. The upgrade also reduces the barriers to entry for smaller validators by eliminating vote transaction fees. This could help Solana compete more effectively with centralized financial infrastructure and other blockchains in speed and performance. As of now, it requires $20 million equivalent to run a profitable Solana (SOL) validator. P-token standard and SIMD-0266: 10x more resource-effective Solana Another meaningful update set to revamp DeFi…

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Filed under: News - @ January 1, 2026 3:16 am