Avalanche, a layer-1 network, experienced a significant block production failure lasting almost two hours, as reported on its status page.
This disruption, impacting the primary network, was detected via the Avascan browser, with the last transaction recorded at block 42046853 around 19:13 UTC+8.
The Avalanche status page released a statement citing a “Block Finalization Stall,” with developers actively investigating the issue.
Of particular concern, the delay in block finalization on the primary network has hindered the acceptance of new blocks, resulting in operational disruptions.
Avalanche C-Chain Block Production Halts, Investigated by Community Developers
At 12:02:27 pm UTC on February 23, Avalanche’s primary network encountered block production issues, resulting in a seemingly halted network.
The most recent blocks on Avalanche’s P-chain, X-chain, and C-chain subnets were observed over an hour earlier, as indicated on Avalanche’s blockchain explorer.
A formal alert regarding the block finalization stall was issued by Avalanche, noting that developers across the community were actively investigating the issue, which was preventing blocks from being accepted on the primary network.
In a subsequent status update, Avalanche provided the following statement:
“Developers across the community are currently investigating a stall in block finalization that is preventing blocks from being accepted on the Primary Network.”
Block production plays a pivotal role in maintaining the stability and seamless operation of blockchain networks by validating and recording transactions within new blocks.
Disruptions in block production can lead to delays in processing transactions, thereby impacting the overall performance of the network.
This recent incident is not the inaugural occurrence of block production halts for Avalanche. Similar disruptions were documented on March 23, 2023, when the C-chain ceased producing blocks.
Sekniqi attributed this instability to a bug found in version 1.9.12 and noted that the team promptly deployed a fix to restore stability to the network.
The Co-founder of Ava Labs Addresses the Avalanche Blockchain Outage
In a post on X, Kevin Sekniqi, co-founder of Ava Labs, disclosed that the team was actively investigating the ongoing issue. Sekniqi suggested that the block production halt might be linked to a “new inscription wave” initiated just before the problems emerged.
This feature, reminiscent of NFT minting on the Bitcoin blockchain, has reportedly caused the block finalization stall, hindering the acceptance of new blocks on Avalanche’s primary network.
Sekniqi speculated that the issue could stem from an “esoteric bug from some edge case,” potentially related to a mempool handling issue with inscriptions. Nevertheless, he assured the community that the team was working diligently to resolve the problem.
Approximately an hour later, Sekniqi provided further clarification, stating that the issue was a code-related bug unrelated to performance handling. He clarified that while inscriptions may have encountered an edge case, it did not affect the network’s performance.
The recent outage has sparked discussions within the crypto community, leading to comparisons with the recent Solana blockchain network outage.
Earlier this month, Solana faced a significant downtime lasting nearly five hours, rendering the platform non-functional.
With both Avalanche and Solana experiencing disruptions in such a short timeframe, social media users are actively debating the reliability and scalability of emerging blockchain networks.
Meanwhile, as of the time of writing, the Avalanche price has slipped by 3.08% and is trading at $36.38, while its trading volume has decreased by 16.83% to $422 million. It’s worth noting that the AVAX cryptocurrency has experienced a loss of nearly 12% in the last seven days, despite showing monthly gains of 30%.
