Ethereum Network Facing Finality Issues Leaving Blockchain Unsafe

Ethereum’s Blockchain network is the world’s second-largest in terms of cryptocurrency market cap. On May 12, 2023, the Ethereum network suffered technical issues regarding block finality for over an hour, raising concerns. It is a process used by the network to ensure crypto-economic security.

Ethereum Network Marred By Finality Issue

The process of block finalization is called finality. Generally, it takes around 15 minutes to complete the process. It can be considered to be a guarantee that the block is now closed and can not be altered or removed from the blockchain without burning a minimum of 33% of the total staked ETH.

This method ensures crypto-economic security. Changing the order or altering the content comes with a heavy cost. This keeps users confident that no rational person would try to do such a thing. Burning so much staked ETH for altering a block can never be logical.

On May 12, 2023, the Ethereum Network lost finality for over an hour, the second occurrence in the last 24 hours. On May 11, 2023, for a 25-minute window, the blocks were initiated but not validated, leaving the block vulnerable. However, the reason for the outage remained unclear.

Ethereum Supporter and Venture Capitalist Adam Cochran shared a tweet regarding the incident. Saying that the Eth beacon chain finality has been causing issues for over an hour and hoped that the issue should be solved easily. He also shared epochs showing how much waiting time is experienced.

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Eth beacon chain finality has now failed for over an hour, we’re at inactivity leak time and there is no denying this is now a liveness fault.
Hoping that this is just an implementation issue for a single client to fix and not a larger protocol issue… either way not good https://t.co/b8EBi972NJ
— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) May 12, 2023

Finally, Ethereum Core developer Eric Conner tweeted that the problem is now fixed.

Ethereum chain is finalizing again.
And NO, it did not go “down”. Some of you would really benefit in understanding how this works before spouting off and sounding like an idiot. pic.twitter.com/y5ZsgNCar6
— eric.eth (@econoar) May 12, 2023

The finality issue remains controversial in the industry because it allows the processing of transactions but they are not finalized. This means that they are vulnerable to being re-ordered or ignored during finalizing.

Can SSF solve the Finality Problems?

The Ethereum Foundation is working on an updated version called single slot finality (SSF). It takes around 15 minutes to validate a block, but this system allows blocks to get proposed and finalized in the same slot. The current waiting time is too long for users and exchanges wanting higher throughput.

The small window between the block’s proposal and its finalization creates an opportunity for bad actors to exploit the system by censoring certain blocks or extracting MEV. Moreover, the current system of upgrading blocks in stages is complex and patched multiple times to solve vulnerability loopholes.

These patches could be a weak link that can be exploited, or subtle bugs may arise. Upgrading to Single Slot Finality shall mitigate the risks.

The security of the blockchain is one of the main factors that fuel its adoption. The technology is inherently robust but still open for development. Attacks on the industry by hackers and scammers create doubt among users, and robust security measures could eliminate such doubts.

Chainalysis report says that the amount stolen by crypto hackers in 2020 was $0.5 Billion, which increased massively in 2021 to $3.3 Billion. In 2022 the amount stolen was around $3.8 Billion. These huge numbers create a sense of insecurity.

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