Ton Network Restores Functionality After Second Major Outage

According to Cointelegraph, The Open Network (TON) has resumed normal operations following a second significant outage within 36 hours. The TON Community announced the network's return to full functionality at approximately 1 am UTC on August 29 via the official TON Telegram group. The network had gone offline at 7:17 pm on August 28. The TON Community confirmed that withdrawals and deposits to TON wallets would be processed in the coming hours and days. The latest outage lasted just over six hours and was attributed to a surge in network activity due to the launch of a new TON-based memecoin called Dogs (DOGS). The network first experienced downtime around 11 pm UTC on August 27, ceasing block production for six hours before coming back online at 5:30 am UTC on August 28. Both outages were linked to the DOGS memecoin by market commentators and TON Community members, a claim later confirmed by official TON channels. In total, the TON network has faced more than 12 hours of downtime over the past 36 hours. DOGS, introduced in July 2024 and launched on August 27, is a new memecoin on the TON blockchain, marketed as the “most Telegram-native memecoin.” The memecoin was inspired by Spotty, a mascot resembling the pet dog of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, who was arrested in France on August 24. The launch of DOGS has led to significant congestion on the TON network, with the token accumulating over $1.7 billion in trading volume within the first 10 hours of its launch. The official Dogs channel on Telegram has garnered nearly 17 million subscribers in less than two months since the token was first proposed. TON is a third-party blockchain protocol integrated into the Telegram messaging platform, which has stated it will remain operational despite Durov’s arrest. Following the network's restoration, the price of Toncoin increased by 8%, currently trading at $5.57 according to CoinGecko data. Despite this rally, Toncoin has seen a 17% decline over the past week, impacted by Durov’s arrest. While TON is up 8% on the day, it remains down 17% for the month.