Celo blockchain suffers a critical network outage

Quick Take

  • The Celo blockchain stopped at block #14,035,19 at 06:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
  • The network’s validators are working on a fix to bring the network online.

The Celo blockchain is facing downtime after the production of new blocks on the network stopped all of a sudden. The network came to a halt at block #14,035,19 at 06:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Meanwhile, all of the various applications on the chain remain unusable.

According to its official block explorer, Celo's proof-of-stake network could not validate new transactions for over nine hours until block production was restored for a few minutes at 3:39 a.m. ET on Thursday. However, the chain froze again at block #14,035,044.

Celo's most recent update stated that the network's validators had been working on a fix to bring the network online. The team has not yet provided a reason for the outage.

"Validators are working to identify and resolve the issue. All funds are safe. Updates will be provided as soon as possible," the team wrote on Twitter.

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Even though this was the first network downtime for Celo, the core team has previously grappled with technical issues related to its bridge. In November 2021, Optics — Celo's bridge with Ethereum and Polygon — suffered from a critical security bug, requiring an emergency upgrade.

Celo is an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchain that raised $25 million from venture firms, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Polychain Capital in April 2019. As of today, Celo hosts Ethereum-based decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and Sushiswap. It is also home to its native apps like Valora, Mento, Moola Market, UbeSwap, and Mobius Money. 


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Vishal Chawla is The Block’s crypto ecosystems editor and has spent over six years covering tech protocols, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Vishal likes to delve deep into blockchain intricacies to ensure readers are well-informed about the continuously evolving crypto landscape. He is also a staunch advocate for rigorous security practices in the space. Before joining The Block, Vishal held positions at IDG ComputerWorld, CIO, and Crypto Briefing. He can be reached on Twitter at @vishal4c and via email at [email protected]