Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network developed by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, experienced a significant outage lasting over two hours on Thursday, disrupting block production. The incident began around noon ET, coinciding with a scheduled upgrade for the network. The network’s status page confirmed the halt, stating, “Base Mainnet is currently halted while the team works on an issue with block production,” and assured users that all funds remain secure.
By 1:00 p.m. ET, the network team identified the source of the problem, although an immediate resolution was not available. Updates indicated that block production was gradually resuming, with applications and infrastructure beginning to come back online as Base nodes were restarted and synced.
Further updates revealed that the team had isolated a consensus issue causing an invalid block to be sequenced, which halted the creation of new blocks. After another hour, the network reported that the sequencing of new blocks had returned to normal, even as the team continued to investigate the root cause of the problem.
This outage marked the first significant block production issue on Base’s mainnet in three months. However, the network had previously reported extended delays in withdrawals, with approximately 30 hours of interruptions noted in May. A representative from Coinbase has not yet commented on the incident.
Despite the outage, Base is actively proceeding with its Beryl hardfork upgrade, aimed at implementing a new token standard for stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets while reducing withdrawal delays. Although blockchain outages are relatively rare, they can have a substantial impact on network activity. Other networks, such as Sui and Solana, have also faced outages in the past year, highlighting the inherent challenges in maintaining network stability.
