TON Blockchain Network Recovers After Major Outage Amid Speculation and Record Traffic Surge
The Open Network (TON), the blockchain network associated with Telegram, has successfully resumed operations following a significant six-hour disruption caused by an unprecedented surge in network traffic.
In an announcement on Aug. 28 via X, TON confirmed that it had restored full functionality, with block production resuming as normal.
The unexpected outage triggered a wave of speculation within the crypto community, with some members linking the event to the recent arrest of Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, in France. Durov was taken into custody in Paris on Aug. 21, facing charges related to facilitating illegal transactions, non-cooperation with law enforcement, and allegedly allowing illicit activities on Telegram.
However, Ian Wittkopp, head of TON Ventures, dismissed these rumors. Wittkopp explained that the outage was, in fact, caused by an overwhelming number of transactions, spurred by a massive $550 million airdrop to the community via the DOGS memecoin token. According to Wittkopp, this may have been the busiest day in TON's history regarding user activity.
The DOGS memecoin, launched on Aug. 26 and closely tied to the Telegram community, generated immense interest due to its novel airdrop strategy. By Aug. 27, the blockchain explorer Tonscan reported a significant spike in network traffic, leading to temporary suspensions of key services.
TON’s official communication corroborated these reports, stating that the network experienced an abnormal load, overwhelming several validators and causing them to fall out of consensus. As the validators struggled to clear the backlog of transactions, the network’s functionality was severely compromised.
TON addressed the community, explaining:
“Due to high recent activity (>20m transactions in recent 2 days), garbage collection overloaded many of validators for enough time for them to lost consensus with each other.”
In blockchain networks, validators play a crucial role in confirming transactions within blocks. When block production halts, transactions remain unconfirmed, leading to service disruptions.
Despite the significant outage, TON’s native token demonstrated remarkable resilience in the market. While the token’s price dipped by a modest 1.3% over the past 24 hours, this decline was minor compared to the broader market trend, where major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum saw average drops of around 6% during the same period.
Interestingly, some in the crypto community viewed the outage as a positive indicator for TON, drawing parallels to previous disruptions on other major blockchains like Solana and Avalanche. These enthusiasts argue that such challenges on layer-1 networks often signify growing adoption and increasing activity, positioning TON as a network on the rise.