On February 6th at 10:22 UTC, the Solana network encountered a significant outage, sparking investigations by engineers from across the ecosystem. This interruption on the mainnet beta has prompted core engineers and validators to take swift action.

Network Downtime and Investigation

Solana Mainnet-Beta is currently experiencing downtime in block production, with core engineers and validators actively investigating the cause. The Solana Blockchain Explorer has flagged the issue as a “major outage” on the mainnet, confirming the severity of the disruption.

Solana blockchain outage warning. Source: Solana

Users on social media have noted the absence of block production for over 25 minutes, a substantial delay considering Solana’s typically rapid block production time of 400 milliseconds.

Validator Response and Remediation Efforts

Validators have begun generating snapshots using their local ledger state to prepare for a restart. Core engineers are still preparing the release.

— Laine ❤️ stakewiz.com (@laine_sa_) February 6, 2024

Validator stakewiz has reported that developers are working on a release containing a remediation for the issue. Once developed and tested, further instructions will be disseminated to validators. Meanwhile, validators have initiated the process of generating snapshots using their local ledger state to prepare for a network restart, while core engineers finalize the release.

Solana blockchain outage warning. Source: Solana

Impact on Exchanges

The Solana network outage has already begun affecting cryptocurrency exchanges, with Upbit announcing the suspension of deposits and withdrawals for Solana-based tokens such as SOL, GMT, RAY, and ACS due to the interruption.

This is not the first time the Solana blockchain has experienced network outages or block production downtime. Over the past two years, the network has encountered multiple instances of downtime, marking the 11th outage during this period.

Background on Solana Blockchain

Launched in March 2020, the Solana blockchain aimed to provide scalable solutions for a decentralized ecosystem, positioning itself as a competitor to Ethereum with faster transaction processing times and lower fees. The network gained prominence during the 2021 bull cycle, fueled by increased adoption and rising token prices. However, network-related issues have persisted, necessitating multiple network restarts by developers.

The Solana blockchain’s latest outage underscores ongoing challenges in maintaining network stability despite its growing prominence in the cryptocurrency space. As engineers work to address the issue and validators prepare for a restart, the incident highlights the importance of robust infrastructure and contingency planning in blockchain ecosystems.