A bug within Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling solution Starknet resulted in a four-hour block outage on April 4, as disclosed by the protocol team in a statement on April 5. The statement revealed that Starknet encountered a “rounding error bug” leading to block reorganization, thereby causing the transaction backlog to reach full capacity.
Ethereum Layer-2 Protocol Back Up and Following Block Outage
“As a consequence, there were several minutes during which new transactions couldn’t be processed and were consequently rejected,” the statement continued, disclosing that “certain transactions were reverted due to parameter changes (e.g., timestamps).”
“The backlog has been cleared, and regular network operations have resumed,” the protocol further added. “We are in communication with pertinent parties to prevent any future issues.”
Starknet’s Series Of Challenges
Data from CoinGecko indicates that the outage led to a decline in the price of Starknet to $1.82 by Thursday morning, although it had risen to $1.91 by the time of publication.
Thursday’s four-hour downtime represents the latest hurdle for the Israel-based protocol, which encountered delays in early March following the implementation of Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade aimed at reducing Layer-2 rollup fees.
In January, Uri Kolodny, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare Industries, Starknet’s parent company, resigned from his position, leading to Eli Ben-Sasson, the company’s president, assuming his role.
“Serious medical challenges at home demand my full attention,” Kolodny stated at the time. “I took a leave of absence a year ago, but unfortunately, that wasn’t sufficient.”
Kolodny expressed confidence that Ben-Sasson would “guide StarkWare forward with skill and dedication, achieving great success.”
Massive Scalability, Lower Costs
Despite some controversy, Starknet is poised to officially launch its cryptocurrency, $STRK, in April following a significant 728 million airdrop in February, during which over 220 million tokens were claimed within hours of the launch.
As per CoinGecko, the protocol boasts a market capitalization of nearly $1.38 billion and a fully diluted valuation of $18.9 billion, placing it alongside other major players in the layer-2 space.
Established in 2018, StarkWare Industries specializes in zero-knowledge cryptographic proofs to tackle scalability issues.
According to Starknet’s website, the Ethereum layer-2 protocol aims to combine low fees with rapid transactions and extensive scaling capabilities.
Those eligible for the initial round of STRK allocation in February have until June 20 to claim their tokens, while Starknet plans to release a comprehensive analysis of Thursday’s outage incident at a later date yet to be determined.
