Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain base halted block production for 33 minutes on Tuesday after switching to a backup sequencer that was not properly set up to handle transactions.
The incident began at 6:07am and when the active sequencer began to fall behind block production, prompting the base system (the base system) to manage the availability and reliability of the sequencer to switch sequencers.
However, it was unable to create blocks because it switched to the “unhealthy mainnet sequencer” that was still set up, Base Build’s X account said in a post Tuesday.
Base creator Jesse Pollack said the core team responded quickly to the issue, and that the network had fully recovered by 6:40am. It took a little longer to make sure that there was no need to reorganize the chain, the base said in its post sector.
The base is still highly centralized
The incident reveals its dependence on a centralized sequencer for the base to handle large transactions. While multiple sequencers are running, they rely entirely on the conductor’s management capabilities, creating a single point of failure that can shut down the entire network.
The team behind the base, which now has a total value of over $4.1 billion, said it would update its infrastructure so that it handles block building responsibilities if all sequencers in the cluster are selected.
The outage of the base’s only other major network occurred on September 5, 2023 (shortly after its release). There, block production stopped for 43 minutes.
Accountability taken by the basic leader
Base’s engineering head, passing through “Aflock” with X, added that Base “can’t run a global economy without a robust backbone of the network,” and said it takes chain uptime very seriously.
“We are proud of our team for their quick response here and are pleased to have found some ways to enhance our system in the future.”
Obviously, the outage of the base network is bullish
Some cryptography critics have considered Base’s suspension bullish, including former Coinbase engineer and Save Finance founder 0xrooter. He states:
“Bully downtime,” the pseudonym developer added.
Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz compared the incident to Solana, another fast blockchain that has been a significant part of network outages over the years.
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Despite the security challenges, Solana and Base are one of the most used blockchains for retail users, boasting the first and fourth active addresses of 2.83 million and 1.09 million respectively, Defillama data shows.
Solana is the second-largest chain with Defi TVL at $9.6 billion and Base is the sixth.
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