Aidan Mott, research analyst at Messari, discusses Solana’s network restart that resulted in the blockchain going dark for 17 hours earlier this week. Show highlights:

  • when Solana validators noticed something was wrong and how they responded
  • what initial dex offering (IDO) caused the network to be flooded with transactions
  • how a surge in bot transactions pushed validators to decide to restart the network
  • how Solana’s outage compares to similar incidents on other chains
  • why the Solana community was most likely not surprised by the 17-hour restart
  • how Solana validators and the Solana Foundation coordinated the network restart
  • how Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko communicated with the community during the outage
  • whether Solana is still vulnerable to a similar flood of transactions
  • what the network restart means in terms of Solana’s centralization
  • why Solana validators running the same client could be an issue

Check Out the Related Article
In addition to the analysis from Aidan, I did an interview with a Solana validator about his experience of the outage, and his concerns for the network going forward. Check out "The Experience of One Validator: What Happened During Solana's 17-Hour Outage?" in my Facebook Bulletin newsletter here -- and subscribe today!
https://laurashin.bulletin.com/178076467796725

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Episode Links

Aidan Mott

  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/KidKrypt0
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidan-mott-77665267/

Messari

  • https://messari.io/

Solana Outage

  • The Block’s coverage
    • https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/117711/solana-blockchain-validators-restart-network-after-transaction-stoppage
    • https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/117624/solana-experiences-transaction-stoppage-as-developers-report-intermittent-instability
  • CoinDesk coverage
    • https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/09/14/solana-validators-ready-potential-restart-amid-blockchain-outage/
  • Decrypt coverage
    • https://decrypt.co/81004/solana-back-online-following-downtime-network-restart
  • Why the mainnet went down
    • https://twitter.com/buffalu__/status/1437792673784549383
  • Potential ramifications
    • https://twitter.com/CometShock/status/1437870278684590091
  • Neha Narula tweet
    • https://twitter.com/neha/status/1438487308433494022
  • Solana Status -- the Twitter account that sent information out on the state of the network
    • https://twitter.com/SolanaStatus
  • Anatoly Yakovenko Solana outage tweets
    • https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/status/1437887482897518595
    • https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/status/1437784552324358155
    • https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/status/1438496595360862215
    • https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/status/1438465508412739588
    • https://twitter.com/aeyakovenko/with_replies