Temporary Transaction Halt on Ethereum Mainnet
Ethereum's mainnet experienced a temporary halt in transaction finalizations but resumed after a brief 25-minute pause. This incident is reminiscent of a similar event on March 15 when the Goerli testnet version of Ethereum's "Shapella" upgrade faced delays due to low validator participation rates. However, the upgrade was successfully executed on the mainnet on April 12.
Ethereum core developer and Prysmatic Labs co-founder Preston Van Loon confirmed that block finalization was restored after the 25-minute interruption. Blockchain analytics provider Beaconcha_in revealed a sudden drop in the number of attestations during Ethereum epochs 200,552 to 200,554.
An epoch consists of 32 slots in which validators propose and attest to blocks, generally lasting around six minutes and 24 seconds. Although the cause of this issue is yet to be determined, Ethereum developers are investigating it to avoid future occurrences.
In response to the incident, Ethereum consultant Superphiz highlighted the importance of client diversity in minimizing the duration of finality loss. He also emphasized that maintaining no more than 33% control for any client could have altogether averted the loss of finality.
An epoch consists of 32 slots in which validators propose and attest to blocks, generally lasting around six minutes and 24 seconds. Although the cause of this issue is yet to be determined, Ethereum developers are investigating it to avoid future occurrences.
In response to the incident, Ethereum consultant Superphiz highlighted the importance of client diversity in minimizing the duration of finality loss. He also emphasized that maintaining no more than 33% control for any client could have altogether averted the loss of finality.
