Sui Network Resumes Operations After 2-Hour Downtime

The decentralized layer-1 blockchain network Sui has resumed operations, roughly two hours after going offline due to a bug in one of its contracts.

According to a tweet from the network’s X account, Sui validators were unable to function because of a bug in the protocol’s transaction scheduling logic. However, the chain’s developers have resolved the issue, and the validators have been revived.

Sui Recovers From Network Outage

Sui Network, tagged “Solana killer,” said this outage is its first major incident since the protocol launched roughly 19 months ago. Notably, the network’s testnet experienced similar outages earlier this year.

When the Sui mainnet stopped processing blocks at 09:15 UTC on November 21, the network’s team issued an official notice, stating that they were investigating the problem and would deploy a fix as soon as possible. The team quickly notified users after validators resumed operations.

The Sui network is back up and processing transactions again, thanks to swift work from the incredible community of Sui validators.

The 2-hour downtime was caused by a bug in transaction scheduling logic that caused validators to crash, which has now been resolved. https://t.co/TJh2zwvQcD

— Sui (@SuiNetwork) November 21, 2024

The network’s native token, SUI, reacted to news of the outage by plunging roughly 11%, per data from CoinMarketCap. Although the cryptocurrency had recovered slightly at the time of writing to $3.56, it was still down almost 2.5% in the past 24 hours.

Decentralization Concerns Over Sui

Sui’s latest incident has raised concerns among investors and market participants about the network’s reliability and true decentralization. One user who commented on the tweet announcing the network’s revival said the issue raised questions about the centralization of decisions at the entity because it took the developers way less time to fix the bug. 

“Let me understand: you managed to fix a key bug in the transaction processing in just one hour? It took less than an intern fixing the excel of the company…Whatever the simplicity of the issue, how fast do you think you can coordinate more than 10 people around the world with different time zones to fix it? Do you think 1h is enough?” the tweeter insisted.

Meanwhile, the outage comes barely a month after the Sui Foundation refuted allegations of engaging in insider trading of over $400 million worth of SUI.