The Base blockchain, a large Ethereum Layer-2 network developed by Coinbase, has confirmed thisd it experienced temporary delays in processing transactions even while the network continued to produce blocks without interruption.
According to official updates from Base engineers, the network occasionally experienced delays in packaging transactions, in some cases causing users to wait longer than normal for confirmations or see their transactions dropped during periods of increased network congestion.
The Ethereum L2 blockchain shared a X message highlighting that: “Sometimes busy times on the network can cause transactions to be delayed or even lost. We are working on long-term solutions to resolve this issue and will keep you updated as we do this progress.”
Base encounters a major problem with its operation
Previously, Base released a statement notifying its customers that the mainnet was experiencing temporary delays in its operations, particularly affecting transaction processing. This delay frustrated users, as this led to network congestion which increased their wait times.
At this time, Ethereum L2 blockchain executives explained that block creation will continue as usual and transactions will be processed; However, some may be delayed or even canceled during peak hours.
While individuals await an official statement from Base on the exact cause of the incident, reports indicate that this is not the first time the network has experienced operational delays. Late last year, Base experienced a 19-minute interruption in block creation.
The Ethereum L2 blockchain reported this incident at 6:15 UTC, causing tension among its customers. In an attempt to calm their fears, the base shared on its official status page that the problem had been resolved at 06:44 UTC. Notably, this incident represented the network’s first major outage.
During the outage, Coinbase’s network experienced delays in withdrawals, block production, deposits, and Flashblocks functionality. The issue was resolved within 30 minutes while the team continued to look for other issues.
However, they did not reveal the reason for the delays. Some sources claimed that this outage may have occurred because the Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain was experiencing a significant increase in token creation. To support this claim, they pointed to a scenario where the network launched more than 54,000 new tokens per day.
Meanwhile, given the recurring delays, with the recent incident being the second incident and that Base has not yet provided the root cause of the two incidents, users have expressed concerns about financial risks and loss of trust in blockchain networks.
Sui is confronted with a disruption in his network
Like Base, Sui, a high-performance layer 1 blockchain, reported an outage on January 14 that significantly impacted mainnet activity. This disruption temporarily halted transaction processing and checkpoint certification on the blockchain, causing tension in the crypto industry.
The team shared an X-post from January 16 that delved deeper into the root cause of this problem. In the post, they said that a disagreement between validators over internal consensus led to the outage. According to their research, high network traffic, external attacks, or security issues were not the cause of the outage. The team then assured users that their belongings remained safe during the incident.
In the meantime, reporters contacted the layer 1 blockchain to ask how they identified the outage. In response to this question, Sui highlighted that they had identified a rare bug in the way consensus commits were handled, which caused validators to reach different conclusions when managing specific conflicting transactions.
Due to this impact, Validators began developing different checkpoint candidates, hindering the required match to certify a new stakes-weighted checkpoint, they added. At this point, when validators realized that stakeholders were signing conflicting checkpoint data, the network experienced a temporary, intentional shutdown.
This shutdown ensured that no inconsistent states were completed, even though it brought block production and transaction execution to a halt.