Update: Block Production Resumed

According to on-chain data, the Open Network (TON +7.39%) experienced an outage after no transactions were processed for six hours.

Tonscan data indicated that the Telegram-linked blockchain ceased producing new blocks at around 10:11 p.m. UTC on Tuesday. As the disruption extended, Binance and Bybit exchanges temporarily halted deposits and withdrawals to and from the network.

“TON Blockchain is currently experiencing a disruption in block production,” TON stated in an X post. “The issue is occurring due to the abnormal load currently on TON. Several validators are unable to clean the database of old transactions, which has led to losing the consensus.”

The TON Status group on Telegram reported that validators needed to restart nodes at roughly the same time with specific flags to restore the network to normalcy.

“So far, not enough validators have restarted their nodes with correct flags. If you haven’t restarted your nodes with new flags yet, please do so ASAP,” it emphasized.

X user @maverickqe, claiming to be the strategic advisor to the TON Society, noted that the DOGS memecoin airdrop triggered a transaction surge, overloading the network. “Garbage collection overloaded many validators for long enough for them to lose consensus,” the user stated.

The Telegram-based memecoin DOGS has garnered significant attention within the crypto community as its developers outlined plans to enhance the token’s utility within the Telegram ecosystem. DOGS launched an airdrop event on Monday, offering 81.5% of the fixed supply of 550 billion tokens to community members. Last week, DOGS reported that six million verified users had requested the airdrop.

This situation unfolded after Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s arrest by French authorities, sparking a major backlash from both Telegram and TON communities. On Tuesday, a Telegram mini-app initiated a letter advocating for Durov’s release from French authorities, which has amassed nearly 1.7 million signatures.

Meanwhile, the network’s native token, Toncoin, declined by 2.14% in the past 24 hours, trading at $5.27, as reported by The Block’s Toncoin price page.