Solana Mainnet-Beta Experiences Block Production Downtime

Solana Mainnet-Beta encounters downtime in block production, with progression currently halted. Core engineers and validators are investigating the issue. The Solana Blockchain Explorer confirms the outage.

Solana blockchain outage warning. Source: Solana

Validators Prepare for Restart

Users observe no block production for over 25 minutes, a significant delay considering Solana's 400-millisecond block production time. Developers are crafting a release with remediation measures. Validators initiate snapshot generation using local ledger state in preparation for a restart. Core engineers are finalizing the release.

Solana blockchain stops block production. Source: X

Solana validator stakewiz reports developers are constructing a release with remedial measures. Once built and tested, validators will receive further instructions.

Impact on Exchanges

The Solana network outage affects crypto exchanges like Upbit, suspending deposits and withdrawals of Solana-based tokens such as SOL, GMT, RAY, and ACS.

After news broke, the price of Solana plummeted from around $96 to a low of $92.88, a decrease of nearly 4%. As of now, the impact doesn't seem to be very severe, but further observation over time is needed.

Source: binance

Persistent Challenges

This isn't the first downtime for Solana; it marks the 11th outage in two years. Despite its launch in March 2020 and its promise of scalable decentralized solutions, Solana has faced recurrent network issues, leading to multiple restarts.

Solana gained prominence during the 2021 bull cycle due to increased adoption and token price. However, network-related challenges persist, undermining its reliability and stability.