The altcoin Arbitrum network, a popular Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, has been in trouble. It suffered a temporary outage Wednesday due to a software bug in Arbitrum’s sequencer. The error stopped processing on-chain transactions for several hours. This is why it has caused concern among users and developers. Here are the details…
Trouble in altcoin ecosystem
The sequencer responsible for aggregating and grouping user transactions before sending them to the Ethereum Blockchain encountered a bug that caused network stress and a backlog of unsent transactions. The issue was immediately addressed by the Arbitrum developers and a solution was developed to return to normal operations. According to the Arbitrum Foundation’s community leader known as “eli_defi”, the error created an outage in the network due to a backlog of unprocessed transactions. However, with the application of the fix, the network has returned to normal operation.
So, where is the bug? Well, it was in the batch poster.
When the Sequencer tried to post a batch on-chain, the bug hit and the transaction reverted.
Impact: A temporary pause to finalize transaction ordering on-chain, but otherwise the Sequencer’s service was not disrupted.
— Arbitrum Developers (💙,🧡) (@ArbitrumDevs) June 7, 2023
Arbitrum operates as a layer-2 network that aims to lighten the load on the Ethereum main blockchain by grouping transactions and sending them as a single transaction. A key component of this process, the sequencer, organizes and sorts transactions before sending them to Ethereum. Unfortunately, the bug in the sequencer’s code prevented it from successfully grouping and confirming transactions on the main chain, causing temporary outage.
The situation got a little confusing when it comes to Ethereum levels in the sorter’s wallet. Normally, transaction fees spent on the sorter’s wallet are refunded. However, since transactions were not confirmed on Ethereum, a secondary wallet designed for automatic refunds was not triggered and did not cause further complications during the outage.
ARB price depreciates
After the bug was fixed, the secondary wallet continued the normal refund process and ensured the sorter’s wallet was working as intended. Known for its optimism roll-ups and ability to increase speed, scalability and cost efficiency on Ethereum, Arbitrum continues to gain popularity as a layer-2 scaling solution. Leveraging off-chain computing and storage, it provides higher throughput and lower fees compared to the Ethereum main blockchain.
As we reported on Kriptokoin.com, the platform made headlines a few months ago with an ARB token airdrop announcement. Despite the temporary disruption, Arbitrum remains a major player in the blockchain space. Recent developments, however, have brought the price down a bit. ARB is currently trading at $1.12. It went down to this level, around $1.18. It is currently down 5%. As developers continue to address and fix all kinds of issues, Arbitrum strives to provide an efficient and scalable solution for decentralized applications on the Ethereum network.
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