TON Faces Technical Meltdown Following Telegram Founder’s Arrest & $DOGS Frenzy
- Telegram's blockchain network, The Open Network (TON), was unable to produce any new blocks for eight hours this morning.
- The technical glitch coincided with Telegram founder's arrestand a craze for a new Telegram-native meme coin, $DOGS.
- These events highlight complexities surrounding the management and scaling of blockchain technologies.
Telegram's native blockchain network, TON, stopped producing new blocks for approximately eight hours early this morning.
The halt coincided with the arrest of Telegram's founder, Pavel Durov, and a frenzy over $DOGS (a new Telegram-native meme coin).
Let's explore the impact these external factors have on the TON blockchain.
TON Validators Overloaded Amidst Durov's ArrestDurov was detained in France on August 24 over refusing to cooperate with the authorities regarding Telegram's alleged criminal use by third parties.
Just as Durov thought things couldn't get any worse, the TON network stopped generating blocks at around 6:11:46 (UTC+8). It geared up again roughly eight hours later.
The network disruption was caused by a sudden overload, which prevented validators from clearing old transactions.
TON Blockchain is currently experiencing a disruption in block production.
The issue is occurring due to the abnormal load currently on TON. Several validators are unable to clean the database of old transactions, which has led to losing the consensus.TON Core has issued a call...
- TON
(@ton_blockchain) August 28, 2024
TON also posted on its official Telegram chat that due to high recent activity (>20m transactions in recent 2 days), garbage collection overloaded many of validators for enough time for them to lose consensus with each other.
Following its inability to generate new blocks, $TON's 24-hour trading volume has tanked by ~25%. This sowed fear, uncertainty and doubt among investors. And since Durov was taken into custody, its price has dropped by ~23% (from a high of $6.86 to $5.42).
A member of the TON Foundation proclaims that the $DOGS airdrop (valued at $500M+) is to blame for the network's capacity constraints.
Some people saying this is related to Pavel - it is not.
Growing pains of becoming a lindy chain, processing high loads from airdropping $550M+ in value to the community through the @realDogsHouse token issuance.
Likely past 24 hours has seen largest DAUs in TON history. https://t.co/zW4iwpatmz
- iWitty (@ianw888) August 28, 2024
TON Society created the digital coin $DOGS (aka, Resistance Dog, representing freedom and bravery) to support Durov after he posted an image of his dog during turmoil related to free speech on his Telegram app.
In addition, TON Society has opened an Open Letter Mini App' on Telegram for freedom of speech supporters to sign and help free Durov from detention.
, #FREEDUROV.
An Open Letter Mini App in Telegram.
Anyone who values privacy and freedom of speech should sign this letter to French... pic.twitter.com/i46ohO7F9G
- TON Society
(@ton_society) August 27, 2024
Showing the coin's potential, $DOGS went live on major CEXs (including Binance, ByBit, and OKX) amidst the chaos on August 26. Ten hours afterward, the token's market cap reached $600M and has since risen to ~$823M.
However, Bybit and Binance were forced to suspend all TON withdrawals and deposits, possibly spurred by the high demand of the dog-themed meme coin.
Service Update!
Our $TON network upgrade is taking longer than expected due to unforeseen issues. Rest assured, our team is working diligently to restore normal service as quickly as possible.
Thank you for your understanding!
- Binance (@binance) August 26, 2024
According to Bitget, TON has highlighted that the processing speed of requests has reached 150K times per minute since the $DOGS community launched the on-chain claiming process.
The CEX also noted the network is subject to stress testing with up to 10M users trading simultaneously.
Our Verdict - Legal Challenges & Technical Hiccups Rocked TONDurov and the TON network are going through a tumultuous period marked by legal troubles surrounding freedom of speech, technical hiccups, and volatile market dynamics.
These events highlight the risks and complexities associated with managing and scaling blockchain technologies - especially those with significant demand.
ReferencesClick to expand and view references- Blocks TON Explorer (Tonscan)
- Toncoin Token Price Today (CoinMarketCap)
- DOGS Price Today (CoinMarketCap)
- Notice of Suspension for Toncoin(TON) Network Deposit and Withdrawal (Bybit)
- TON fails DOGS airdrop stress test, causes 3-hour outage (Bitget)
- Ton Status (Telegram)
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