Solana Blockchain hit by hours-long network downtime and technical issues

by Arthur · February 26, 2023

(Bloomberg) — Developers who operate and maintain the Solana blockchain restarted the crypto network after a technical issue triggered an hours-long shutdown over the weekend.

Most read from Bloomberg

It’s the latest in a series of outages, technical issues and processing issues that have plagued Solana since its debut in 2020. Last October, the blockchain underwent a similar restart process after a bug caused a prolonged outage.

An official Twitter account linked to the blockchain cited a problem during a software upgrade that led to the need for a reboot. The outage was resolved around 9:00 PM New York time and the Solana community was able to restart the network.

The problems encountered during the upgrade sent the blockchain into what’s called a “vote-only” mode, according to Austin Federa, head of strategy and communications at the Solana Foundation, the nonprofit that helps support the blockchain. While that usually allows for a quick resolution of any issues, this time the blockchain was unable to recover. That meant the network had to do a complete reboot, he said.

The “voting only” failsafe means that most transactions on the blockchain were essentially stopped, according to a tweet by Richard Patel, a software developer at Firedancer, a Jump Crypto-backed project focused on improving Solana’s performance.

Solana has been championed by its backers as an “Ethereum killer” because it offers lower transaction costs and faster processing speeds. The blockchain supports various types of crypto applications, including lending, trading and non-fungible tokens. Among its most staunch champions was Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of the bankrupt FTX exchange.

Following Bankman-Fried’s arrest and the collapse of FTX and its sister firm Alameda Research, these close ties damaged the perception of Solana as a network and sent the price of the original SOL token to record lows.

The Solana Foundation disclosed that it had about $1 million in cash or cash equivalents deposited with FTX prior to the bankruptcy filing.

Solana’s founders told Bloomberg News last December that they have done everything they can to sever any connection with Bankman-Fried, FTX or Alameda.

The price of SOL remained just below $22 as of mid-afternoon in New York, compared to near-record lows of around $10 in January.

(Update with resumption of the network from the first paragraph)