Ethereum Unable to Validate Transactions for 30 Minutes
The Ethereum network has experienced a technical issue that prevented the blockchain from validating transactions for approximately 30 minutes.
Ethereum Unable to Validate Transactions for 30 Minutes
Image: Bankless
In the early hours of May 12, Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency network, encountered a technical glitch affecting its transaction validation process.
From 03:15 AM to 03:45 AM, Ethereum experienced a period where blocks failed to reach finalization. This means that while data was being posted to the blockchain, it was not being validated by validators.
The beacon chain stopped finalizing about thirty minutes ago. I don't know why yet, but in general the chain is designed to be resilient against this, transactions will continue as usual and finalization will kick in when the problem is resolved. pic.twitter.com/utAS0uAWpG
— superphiz.eth 🦇🔊🛡️ (@superphiz) May 11, 2023
EthereumPools, a blockchain tracking service for Ethereum, reported a significant spike in the number of inactive validators during this time.
Following the issue, the network returned to normal transaction processing. Ethereum developers have stated that they are investigating the cause and will provide updates to the community soon.
🚨 For a couple of epochs almost every pool/operator that we monitor went offline 🧐
— ethereumpools.info (@EthereumPools) May 11, 2023
Any idea what happened? pic.twitter.com/3Q9BDFis1d
Preston van der Loon, the founder of the Prysm client, mentioned that “something happened that caused some clients to work overtime to catch up with the blockchain.”
Some speculate that Ethereum's reliance on a limited number of clients (validator node software) may lead to centralization and increase the likelihood of technical issues.
As of the morning of May 12, data from EtherNodes shows that up to 72% of Ethereum nodes are running the Geth client.
