Table of ContentsToggle
On Tuesday, the Telegram-linked TON blockchain faced a major disruption that left the network unable to process transactions for six hours.
According to on-chain data, the TON blockchain stopped producing new blocks at approximately 10:11 p.m. UTC, triggering widespread concerns within the cryptocurrency community.
The outage prompted major exchanges like Binance and Bybit to temporarily suspend all deposits and withdrawals associated with the TON blockchain. This interruption raised alarms as the network struggled to handle a sudden surge in transactions, leaving many wondering about the underlying cause.
TON Blockchain Validators Struggle to Maintain Consensus
TON’s official X account acknowledged the disruption, stating, “TON Blockchain is currently experiencing a disruption in block production due to the abnormal load currently on TON. Several validators are unable to clean the database of old transactions, which has led to losing the consensus.”
The TON Status group on Telegram further elaborated that validators were required to restart their nodes using specific flags to restore the network’s functionality. “So far, not enough validators have restarted their nodes with correct flags. If you haven’t restarted your nodes with new flags yet, please do so ASAP,” the group urged.
Also read: Ecoinimist Pulse: Crypto Millionaires Surge 95% in 2024, Bitcoin Dominates Wealth Growth!
This lack of consensus among validators was a critical factor contributing to the prolonged outage, highlighting the need for prompt action from network participants to prevent future incidents.
DOGS Airdrop Overloads TON Blockchain
The unexpected surge in transactions was linked to the recent DOGS memecoin airdrop, which overwhelmed the TON network. X user @maverickqe, who claims to be a strategic advisor to the TON Society, pointed out that the airdrop triggered a significant increase in network activity. “Garbage collection overloaded many of [the] validators for enough time for them to lose consensus,” the user noted.
@cburniske + Network overload dud to $DOGS txs overload + Garbage collection overloaded many of validators for enough time for them to lose consensus + To restore consensus validators will be called upon to restart at 4:00 UTC on/around same time with specific flags — Justin (@maverickqe) August 28, 2024
The DOGS memecoin, closely tied to the Telegram ecosystem, has garnered significant attention in the crypto community. The airdrop event, launched on Monday, saw 81.5% of the fixed supply of 550 billion tokens allocated to community members. According to the DOGS team, six million verified users had requested the airdrop in the days leading up to the outage, further straining the network’s capabilities.
6 million verified users have requested a direct deposit of their $DOGS to exchanges and Telegram Wallet—nothing like this has been seen before in crypto! 😎 We decided to add more withdrawal options and extended the claim period: – Claim to exchanges & Telegram Wallet: until… — Dogs Community 🦴 (@realDogsHouse) August 18, 2024
Backlash Follows Pavel Durov’s Arrest
This outage comes on the heels of a turbulent week for the Telegram and TON communities. Last week, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested by French authorities, sparking outrage among his supporters. The backlash included a widespread online campaign calling for Durov’s release, with a Telegram mini-app collecting nearly 1.7 million signatures in support.
As the TON blockchain continues to recover from this outage, the incident demonstrates the challenges of maintaining network stability amid rapid growth and unexpected spikes in transaction volumes. The DOGS memecoin’s impact on the network serves as a stark reminder of the potential vulnerabilities in even the most robust blockchain systems.
Comments