Ton Network Suffers Outage for Unknown Reasons: Here’s What We Know

In a surprising turn of events, the TON Network experienced a nearly six-hour outage earlier today, failing to generate new blocks for an extended period of time. The disruption caused widespread concern among users as the network’s stability came under scrutiny. The 45341899th processed the last transaction a few hours ago, attesting to the network’s inactivity

Ton Network Identifies Culprit

The recent $DOGS memecoin caused a surge in network traffic, resulting in the outage.. This memecoin token, launched on the Telegram Open Network (TON) on August 27th, quickly gained traction, leading to a flurry of transactions. Within the first ten hours of its launch, $DOGS saw a staggering $1.7 billion in trading volume and reached a peak market capitalization of $891 million.

However, the popularity of $DOGS came with unforeseen consequences. According to Justin, a member of the TON Foundation, the overwhelming number of transactions related to the $DOGS memecoin overloaded the network, causing validators to lose consensus. As a result, TON was unable to produce new blocks, which led to delays in transactions and network instability.

To address the problem, TON validators received instructions to restart at 4:00 UTC in an effort to restore consensus. While the network has resumed block production, the outage highlights the potential risks associated with surges in network activity.

Major crypto exchange ByBit responded to the outage by temporarily suspending all deposits and withdrawals related to TON, citing instability. ByBit stated that it would only resume normal transactions when the network is fully operational.

Ton claimed it fixed the issue. The TON blockchain now produces blocks normally, and the network is fully online. According to TON facilitators, $TON underwent a stress test, identified the problem, and updated with a full restart.

The Role of the $DOGS Memecoin

Network admins identified the $DOGS launch as the culprit behind the latest turmoil affecting TON following the arrest of Telegram creator Pavel Durov in France. The TON Society rebranded Toncoin’s logo to the “Resistance Dog,” symbolizing digital resistance. This rebranding, combined with the growing popularity of memecoins, contributed to the intense market hype surrounding $DOGS.

$DOGS initially reached a peak price of $0.0018, however, it has since corrected to around $0.0013. Despite the price adjustment, the token continues to see significant trading activity across major exchanges.

What this means for TON

A blockchain network not producing blocks for several hours is a rare occurrence, and it raises concerns about potential security risks and long-term network reliability. Solana also faces a similar challenge having been plagued with multiple outages since its launch. While outages like this are uncommon, they serve as a reminder of the challenges blockchain platforms face in scaling to meet growing demand.

In the wake of the incident, TON will likely review its infrastructure to prevent future disruptions. The outage underscores the importance of improving network resilience, especially as the popularity of new tokens like $DOGS introduces unforeseen challenges to transaction throughput and consensus mechanisms.

The TON community remains optimistic that the network will stabilize in the coming days. However, this incident is expected to spark renewed discussions about scalability and meeting increasing demands in the DeFi sector.