Before the incident, 90% of transactions on Arbitrum were inscriptions, highlighting the significant impact of the surge.
The surge overwhelmed the network, leading to the sequencer’s intervention. Effectively causing Arbitrum to come to a standstill for the duration of the outage. Let’s explore more about this important incident.
Bitcoin Ordinals Surge Causes Temporary Network Outage
Arbitrum, a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, has been gaining popularity for its promise to enhance scalability and reduce transaction fees. However, the recent disruption raised concerns about the network’s resilience in the face of unexpected surges in activity.
We'd like to thank the community for their patience and understanding while we investigate this issue.
Gas prices on Arbitrum One have stabilized, and operations are back to normal.
We're continuing to gather more information and will provide a full post-mortem in the coming… https://t.co/8Eqza17Uhq
— Arbitrum (💙,🧡) (@arbitrum) December 15, 2023
Following the outage, Arbitrum promptly addressed the issue and announced that all operations were back to normal. However, the team emphasized that they are actively gathering more information about the incident and will provide a comprehensive “post-mortem” analysis in the coming days.
The incident draws attention to the challenges that can arise from the adoption of Ordinals-like tokens, which have previously caused disruptions on other blockchains. Notably, the Telegram Open Network ($TON) blockchain and the #Polygon network have faced similar issues in the past.
Inscriptions is a good stress test for blockchains.
However, at least three networks suffered outages:
• TON
• Arbitrum
• zkSync era stopped processing blocks an hour ago.Valuable test to get more resilient in the long run. pic.twitter.com/Bjfpa2yCN5
— Ignas | DeFi Research (@DefiIgnas) December 16, 2023
Bitcoin Inscriptions, known for inspiring a surge in inscriptions, has proven to be a double-edged sword. While they can stimulate activity and engagement within a blockchain ecosystem, their impact on network stability becomes a significant concern during periods of excessive demand.
So, as blockchain technology continues to evolve, incidents like the one experienced by Arbitrum underscore the importance of scalability and robust infrastructure. Platforms must be prepared to handle unexpected surges in activity to maintain a seamless and reliable user experience.
NEW: @arbitrum GAS FEES ARE RECOVERING BUT APPEAR TO CONTINUE BEING HIGHER THAN @ethereum'S – AS @arbitrum ONE SEQUENCER RESUMES RUNNING FOLLOWING AN OUTAGE TRIGGERED BY A "SUSTAINED SURGE OF INSCRIPTIONS" pic.twitter.com/4Uvw37Flq8
— DEGEN NEWS 🗞️ (@DegenerateNews) December 15, 2023
Conclusion
While the surge of Bitcoin Ordinals-inspired inscriptions temporarily disrupted Arbitrum’s operations, the incident offers valuable insights into the challenges of managing increased demand on blockchain networks.
The post-mortem analysis promised by Arbitrum will likely shed light on the specific details of the outage and provide a roadmap for addressing similar issues in the future.
Disclaimer
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