Arbitrum hit by a brief outage – Here’s what went wrong
Journalist
Posted:
- Arbitrum paused transactions for some hours.
- Transactions on the network were almost 7 million for the first time in history.
In a recent update from Arbitrum [ARB], it was reported that a section of the network experienced a delay on 15th December. Upon examining the network, it was observed that, amidst the network issue, a key metric had reached its highest value ever recorded.
Arbitrum sees disruption in transactions
On 15th December, a post from Arbitrum indicated a pause in the One Sequencer of the network. The reported cause of the pause was a rise in network traffic, leading to increased gas fees.
Further analysis of the Arbitrum status showed that this incident marked the first downtime in the network over the past 90 days. Specifically, the ARB Batch Poster, Sequencer, and Feed components experienced downtime on that date.
A subsequent post confirmed the resolution of the issue, and as of the latest update, the network was fully working. Additionally, the network successfully identified inscriptions as the root cause of the downtime.
Inscriptions overwhelm Arbitrum
According to Arbitrum, the sudden rise in inscriptions was the cause of the Sequencer’s failure to relay transactions properly.
Also, an analysis by Hildobby on Dune showed that inscriptions accounted for 90% of the transactions on the network. This was before the network ceased functioning.
Additional data also showed a rising trend in the number of inscriptions leading up to the network pause.
Furthermore, the data highlighted a specific inscription “Fair” as the primary contributor to the network pause. It recorded over 2.9 million inscriptions 24 hours before the network experienced its downtime.
As of this writing, the total Fair inscriptions was over 7 million. This rise in inscriptions happened at the same time as a notable increase in overall transactions on the network.
Arbitrum sets transaction record
An examination of Arbitrum transactions via DefiLlama showed a significant increase. The chart showed that on 15th December, the network recorded over 6.9 million transactions. The volume of transactions seen marked the highest transaction volume since its inception.
Also, a further analysis highlighted the stress test imposed on the network by inscriptions. This confirmed the report that could be seen on the status.
The data showed the impact of inscriptions on the network’s overall performance.
Source: DefiLlama
How much are 1,10,100 ARBs worth today
ARB records the highest value decline in the month
Daily analysis of Arbitrum showed its most significant decline for the month on 15th December. The chart showed a decrease of over 7%, marking the third consecutive day of declines.
While the broader market has been experiencing a downturn, the recent pause in the network may have contributed to this notable decline in ARB. ARB was trading with a slight increase of less than 1% as of this writing, at around $1.11.
Source: TradingView
