TechFlow news, October 26 — According to CoinDesk, Solana is set to launch its Alpenglow upgrade by the end of this year or early 2026, which will significantly reduce validators' operating costs and lower entry barriers.
Michael Repetny, CEO of Marinade Labs, revealed that currently running a Solana validator node costs approximately $5,000 per month, with $4,000 (80%) spent on voting fees. The Alpenglow upgrade will drastically cut these voting fees, making it more affordable for participants to operate validator nodes.
In addition to cost reduction, Alpenglow will also enhance network bandwidth and reduce latency, improving validator economics through better block packing and reducing malicious MEV (Maximum Extractable Value) activities. However, the upgrade may impose higher hardware requirements on validators.
