Ethereum L2 Network, Arbitrum, Shuts Down for Hours Due to a Bug

Outages over the blockchain network hampers general activities like transactions and operations over DeFi platforms, and more. The potential reasons for the same vary from a bug, network congestion, failure of update, etc. Out of these reasons, the Layer 2 scaling solution of Ethereum network, Arbitrum, recently got shut down for a couple of hours because of a software bug.

Arbitrum network users reportedly witnessed a sudden stop in mainnet transactions on Wednesday, June 7. The halt lasted for about two hours before the operations continued. Soon enough, the initial probe found a software bug behind the hindrance in the regular operations, following ‘the sequencer’ getting affected.

The developers team of Arbiturm explained in detail over Twitter about the malfunction in the sequencer, and how the bug did not let the transactions pass to the Ethereum mainnet. The automated function of refilling the wallet belonging to the node with transaction fees in ETH had also stopped. Thus, until the process resumed after a wait of two hours, the settlements piled up in abundance.

In a short period of inactivity, the activities got hampered over the network. It resulted in 2.2 Billion worth cryptocurrency transactions or movement over the Ethereum scaling network to be stopped. The decentralized applications over the blockchain like Uniswap and GMX also faced similar experiences.

The sequencer, which is a full node of Arbitrum designated and responsible to carry forward the users’ transactions to Layer 1, was said to be behind the outage over the network. This way the node becomes crucial for the transaction process over the network. One of the two wallets involved in the transaction to send it over Ethereum needs to hold ETH equivalent to transaction fees.

Helping Hand for Ethereum Network

Blockchain research and development company, Off Chain Labs, developed Arbitrum in 2018. The layer 2 scaling solution was aimed to burden-off the heavily loaded with activities off the Ethereum mainnet. Akin to other networks based on rollup systems, the network facilitates off-chain transactions to its users. The scaling solution currently holds total value locked (TVL) worth 2.2 Billion USD.

Its Optimistic Rollup Technology empowers the solution for boosting its transactions across decentralized applications. Arbitrum network primarily collects the transactions together and makes them bundled in batches prior to forwarding it to the Ethereum network.

The network had been through the Nito upgrade in August, last year. Since the upgrade, it has had outages about eight times lasting from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

USDC Stablecoin on Arbitrum

Stablecoin issuer, Circle, announced the launch of its native USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin on Arbitrum. Following the upgrade, the blockchain network becomes the ninth one to support USDC. The stablecoin will continue its inherent facilities over the new network.

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while his post-graduation. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing along with being a developer. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing