The Sui Network, a decentralized layer-1 blockchain designed for high-speed smart contract execution, experienced a major outage on November 21. Block production on the blockchain ceased for over two hours, disrupting transaction processing. The situation has however been fixed and blocks are already in production during this press.
According to onchain data from SuiVision, the last block after halt was recorded at 09:15:58 UTC, and no new blocks were produced for two hours. The incident has drawn significant attention, with the blockchain community raising concerns about its impact on the network’s reliability.
Sui’s team acknowledged the issue in a public update. They confirmed the network was down and assured users that the problem had been identified. The team said, “The 2-hour downtime was caused by a bug in transaction scheduling logic that caused validators to crash, which has now been resolved.”
Notably, despite Sui’s reassurance, the prolonged downtime led to widespread discussion and scrutiny across social platforms, particularly X (formerly Twitter).
Some users voiced concerns about the network’s ability to maintain reliability under stress. Observers noted the critical nature of the incident, suggesting that the response from developers, validators, and the broader community would play a pivotal role in determining user trust. Others likened the situation to early challenges faced by high-performance Layer-1 blockchains, emphasizing that these hurdles are not uncommon in the initial phases of blockchain projects.
This downtime has led to varied opinions within the community. While some speculated that technical setbacks like these could threaten the network’s operations, others remained optimistic. They framed it as a common issue in developing blockchain systems.
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Market Impact and Validator Challenges
The outage has coincided with fluctuations in Sui’s market performance. The price of the SUI token dropped by 6.99%, with a trading volume exceeding $2 billion. After the fix, the token has since recovered, trading at $3.66 at press time, down by 1% in the last 24 hours.
Community members have suggested that some validators faced issues during the outage. The Sui team confirmed the investigation into the matter while it was reported. Validators play a critical role in the network’s block production and transaction processing, and their performance is central to maintaining uptime.
