The Ethereum layer-2 network of Coinbase’s Base has experienced its first significant outage since its public debut on August 9.
On September 5, for approximately 45 minutes, no new blocks were generated on the Base chain. According to the Base status website, its developers identified the “stalled” block production for the first time at 21:36 UTC. Since then, block production has resumed.
We identified a delay in block production due to the need to update some of our internal infrastructure. In response to an inquiry about the outage, Coinbase stated, “We identified a delay in block production due to part of our internal infrastructure requiring a refresh. We’ve implemented a fix and are seeing widespread recovery,”
Base stated it will continue to monitor the supply chain for additional problems.
Matt Willemsen, director of research at crypto education platform Collective Shift, highlighted the differences in using Ethereum’s layer 2 networks and claimed they aren’t as “battle tested” as Ethereum’s mainnet.
Coinbase's Base chain just had its first major outage, lasting for 43 minutes. Blocks have just started to be produced again.
Another reminder that using Ethereum L2s (e.g. Arbitrum One, OP Mainnet, zkSync Era, Base) is NOT the same as using Ethereum mainnet, which is more… pic.twitter.com/JbUNQUGNwu
— Matt Willemsen (@matt_willemsen) September 5, 2023