In a recent development, the Avalanche (AVAX) C-Chain encountered a significant disruption in block production, leading to a halt for over one hour. The interruption, which affected the primary network, was observed through the Avascan browser, with the last transaction recorded at block 42046853 (19:13 UTC+8).
Although other subnets experienced a slight delay, the primary network faced the most substantial impact.
Avalanche C-Chain Block Production Halt
Ava Labs, the team behind the Avalanche protocol, acknowledged the issue and promptly initiated an investigation. According to Kevin Sekniqi, co-founder of Avalanche, the disruption is believed to be related to a new inscription wave that was launched approximately an hour before the block production interruption.
Sekniqi expressed confidence that the incident was caused by an “esoteric bug” stemming from an untested edge case, emphasizing the need for a swift resolution.
The disruption is presumed to be associated with a mempool handling issue specifically tied to inscriptions, which encountered untested edge cases.
When questioned about the possibility of such untested scenarios arising, Sekniqi acknowledged that while ideally, there should be no untested edge cases, the vastness of the codebase and continuous updates make it challenging to anticipate every possible scenario.
The Avalanche co-founder further clarified that thorough testing is conducted on testnets, but the intricacies of the mainnet environment can introduce “unforeseen challenges.”
At present, no further official statement has been issued by the Avalanche protocol, awaiting additional reports and updates from the development team to gain further insights into the situation.
AVAX Price Dips
During the occurrence of the block production halt, the AVAX price, which serves as the native token of the Avalanche protocol, exhibited a negative reaction, further extending the ongoing decline observed since Thursday when the price was at $43.
As of now, the AVAX price has reached $36.13, indicating a decline of over 2% within the past 24 hours, accompanied by a substantial drop of 11.7% over the course of the previous seven days.
The subsequent actions taken by the Avalanche team in response to this situation, as well as the consequential effect on the AVAX price, are yet to be determined.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com