Coinbase-backed Ethereum layer-2 network Base has been experiencing a 48-hour consensus issue that began on June 25th, 17:21 UTC, with the problem still unresolved as of June 26th, 10:36 UTC. According to reports from AMBCrypto, the chain's mainnet block production remains "unhealthy" and has been unable to accept deposits or withdrawals for nearly two days. The incident represents a significant escalation from the previous two-hour disruption that occurred in late May, highlighting ongoing technical challenges with the network's consensus mechanism. Base creator Jesse Pollak has assured users that all funds remain safe throughout the outage, though the extended duration has created substantial operational disruptions for the platform.
The current outage has resulted in major degradation of deposit services while withdrawals face only partial disruption. As reported by AMBCrypto, the chain's status indicates that deposits are facing a major outage while withdrawals are only partially degraded. This represents a significant escalation from the previous incident where the network recovered after two hours of downtime. The technical root cause remains the same as the May outage - an invalid block that interfered with subsequent block building, preventing the sequencer from ordering transactions properly. The incident has marked a rare halt for one of the busiest Ethereum scaling networks, affecting trading, payments, apps and token transfers for users and builders across the platform.
Jesse Pollak, co-founder of Base, has issued a public statement acknowledging the severity of the current situation while expressing commitment to platform improvement. According to AMBCrypto, Pollak stated that "a halt is not okay" and committed to using this incident as motivation to "level up Base as a platform for global, 24/7 finance." He emphasized that the team is working on a full post-mortem report to address the root cause and prevent future similar incidents. Separately, Pollak has indicated that Base will introduce DeFi-like borrowing and lending options for tokenized assets once they go live on the chain, representing a significant expansion of the platform's capabilities beyond its current focus areas.
Despite the current technical challenges, Base has demonstrated strong financial performance since its debut in H2 2023. As reported by DeFiLlama, the platform has achieved a cumulative revenue of over $184 million with a total locked value (TVL) of $4 billion. Half of the locked $4 billion value is concentrated on the DeFi lending platform Morpho Blue. The ongoing outage raises concerns about whether this disruption will impact investor confidence and potentially trigger outflows from the platform. The incident also highlights the vulnerability of Ethereum's layered design, where Layer-2 outages can disrupt activity on the chain while Ethereum mainnet continues to function as the settlement layer.
Recent reports indicate that Coinbase is experiencing multiple technical issues across its platform. Some users are experiencing delayed sends and receives on the Avalanche network, though buys, sells, and fiat withdrawals/deposits remain unaffected. The exchange is also experiencing degraded performance when placing market orders on Advanced Trade, with limit orders not impacted. The team is actively investigating these issues and providing updates as soon as possible, with users assured that their funds remain safe throughout the technical difficulties.
