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Bitcoin L2 Stacks Faces 5-Hour Outage; Transactions Paused
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Bitcoin L2 Stacks Faces 5-Hour Outage; Transactions Paused

Hyomi
Hyomi
Hyomi
Author:
Hyomi
Hyomi is a freelance writer who is passionate about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. She is dedicated to driving innovation and fostering widespread adoption within the industry as her writing captures how we interact with digital assets.
January 6th, 2025
Editor:
Ola Amujo
Ola Amujo
Editor:
Ola Amujo
Ola is a content writer and editor specializing in crypto and blockchain. With years of experience writing engaging blogs and news content, he has helped readers understand complex concepts, discover new opportunities, and stay ahead of emerging trends.

Stacks, one of the fastest-growing layer 2 networks on Bitcoin, faced a five-hour outage. The company described the delay in block production as a temporary drop in signer participation, forcing users to wait out the drawback. The company brought the incident to public notice around 7:15 AM UTC through their official X handle at Stacks Status. 

Layer 2 networks, like Stacks, offer additional functions that OG networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin do not.

Take Ethereum, for example; the blockchain platform founded by Vitalik Buterin had some hurdles to overcome. First, the blockchain requires that ETH users pay very high gas fees, and transactions are often slow. The Ethereum foundation team has since launched ETH 2.0 and moved the blockchain from operating as a Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake.

Despite the upgrades, Ethereum still faces the same issues. This problem facilitated the development of layer 2 networks. Layer 2 networks like Optimism and Arbitrum allow users to process ETH transactions faster with reduced gas fees. 

Recent Technical Issues Following Nakamoto Upgrade

The recent hiccup occurred just three months after the project launched the Nakamoto Upgrade. The upgrade’s purpose was to increase transaction speeds on the chain and improve security. However, it seems the network has yet to match the network load fully.

The team responded promptly and kept the public updated as they sought to fix the lagging problem. Stacks highlighted that the problem arose because of a temporary drop in signer participation.

According to the company, the drop affected the threshold needed for optimal signing. They wasted no time deploying their core developers to work with the signers to restore them. 

Quick Resolution and System Recovery

Within two hours after the post on X, the Stacks chain was producing blocks again. As block production resumed, the project quickly pointed out that while more signers are being restored, minor intermittent activities may occur for the next hour.

Coincidentally, the network issue occurred just 24 hours after the team announced that sBTC, its bitcoin-wrapped token’s total supply, had just hit 1000. In the meantime, the Stacks (STX) price remains unaffected, and the network problem has been contained.

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Contributors

Hyomi
Hyomi is a freelance writer who is passionate about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. She is dedicated to driving innovation and fostering widespread adoption within the industry as her writing captures how we interact with digital assets.