Base Network 33-Minute Outage Traced to Sequencer Handover Failure During High Traffic

Base Network disclosed in a postmortem report that a 33-minute outage occurred on August 5 due to a sequencer handover failure within its high-availability cluster, contradicting an earlier report that had cited a 19-minute disruption [1]. The incident transpired between 6:07 UTC and 6:40 UTC, when Base's automated system known as Conductor failed to properly transfer control from one sequencer to a backup during a high-activity period. The active sequencer fell behind due to on-chain traffic, prompting Conductor to initiate a handover. However, the backup sequencer was still provisioning and could not take over, while Conductor was not fully enabled on the replacement system to attempt another handoff [1].

The system's monitoring detected the issue at 6:09 UTC, and by 6:12 UTC, the team formally declared an incident. Engineers were forced to manually intervene by pausing Conductor and transferring control to a functioning sequencer, a process that required additional time to ensure no blockchain reorganization occurred [1]. This disruption impacted deposit and withdrawal functions, block production, and Flashblocks, during a time when the network was experiencing unprecedented growth.

This outage coincided with a surge in token creation, with daily launches reaching 54,000 by July 27, surpassing Solana and driven by integrations on platforms like Zora and Farcaster [1]. The rapid growth of the creator economy on Base has led to a dramatic increase in daily token launches—from 6,649 on July 1 to nearly 50,000 by the end of the month. The platform's Flashblocks upgrade has also enabled block times of 200 milliseconds, facilitating global transactions under $0.01.

The infrastructure challenges faced by Base reflect a broader issue within the blockchain industry. Recent months have seen major outages on Sui, TON, and Solana, all linked to scaling pressures and high-volume traffic [1]. The traffic surge on Base, particularly in creator coin minting, has exposed the limitations of existing infrastructure. In response, Base has committed to strengthening its sequencer capabilities and enhancing automated systems to ensure smoother operations during peak usage periods [1].

Coinbase, which backs Base, has taken steps to address security risks following the Arcadia Finance hack in July. The firm announced a $5 million bug bounty program focused on Base network components [1]. Meanwhile, institutional adoption is growing, with JPMorgan launching a digital deposit token and Shopify integrating USDC payments across 34 countries.

As Base continues to expand, the network will need to balance growth with reliability. The incident serves as a cautionary tale for other blockchain platforms seeking to scale rapidly without compromising on infrastructure resilience [1].

Source: [1]Base Network Releases 33-Minute Outage Report, Said Caused by Sequencer Handover Failure (https://cryptonews.com/news/base-network-releases-33-minute-outage-report-said-caused-by-sequencer-handover-failure/)