Base fixes 33-minute outage caused by $4.1B network sequencer fault

Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Base experienced a 33-minute outage on August 5 after switching to a backup sequencer that was not yet fully prepared to process transactions, Base developers explained. 

The active sequencer began falling behind on block production at 6:07 am UTC, triggering Base’s sequencer management system, Conductor, to shift activity to another sequencer. 

However, Conductor switched to an "unhealthy mainnet sequencer" still undergoing setup, which was unable to produce blocks, leading to the block stoppage. 

Base's head of engineering acknowledged the issue and said the core team responded immediately, fully restoring the network by 6:40 am UTC. Additional time was taken to confirm a chain reorganisation was not necessary. 

Base highlighted that the incident revealed its dependency on centralized sequencers and noted it would upgrade infrastructure so all sequencers in its cluster can handle block production responsibilities reliably. 

The outage resembles Base’s previous significant interruption in September 2023, when block production halted for 43 minutes shortly after the network’s launch. 

Base, which currently secures over $4.1 billion in total value locked, relies on Conductor’s management capability for sequencer availability, creating a single point of failure for the network. 

According to Base’s engineering lead, “We take chain uptime very seriously” and acknowledged the need for a solid network backbone to “power a global economy.” 

Some in the crypto community viewed the outage as an indication of a network with real user activity, describing it as “bullish downtime.” 

A comparison was made to Solana, a high-speed blockchain with a history of outages, yet both remain among the most actively used blockchains by retail users according to DefiLlama data.