Ethereum News Today: Starknet's Grinta Upgrade Triggers 3-Hour Freeze, Exposing Scaling Risks

Starknet, one of Ethereum’s leading Layer 2 (L2) scaling solutions, experienced a significant network outage lasting nearly three hours following the deployment of its Grinta (v0.14.0) upgrade on September 2, 2025. This incident marks the second major disruption in under two months, raising concerns over the platform’s reliability amid its push toward decentralization and infrastructure modernization. The outage was caused by a sequencer failure and incompatibility with Cairo0 code, a critical component of the platform’s smart contract execution environment. During the affected period, transaction processing halted, and gateways stopped accepting transactions, leading to idle states and unprocessed activity. Developers reorganized the blockchain from block 1,960,612, effectively wiping out nearly one hour of network activity. Users were required to resubmit all transactions made between 2:23 am and 4:36 am UTC to restore normal operations.

The Grinta upgrade was intended to introduce key infrastructure improvements, including a decentralized sequencer, an updated fee market, and a new mempool system. However, the rollout resulted in a network-wide freeze that far exceeded the expected brief downtime. Starknet’s status page reported that block creation slowed dramatically and that multiple alerts were triggered throughout the morning of September 2. The sequencer, which acts as the backbone of transaction ordering and block production, failed to recognize Cairo0 code, leading to a breakdown in the network’s ability to process transactions efficiently. This marked a significant setback for Starknet, which has been increasingly positioning itself as a scalable and secure L2 solution for Ethereum.

The incident comes on the heels of a similar, albeit shorter, outage on July 18, when the network experienced a 13-minute disruption due to slow block creation and gateway delays. While both outages were attributed to technical challenges during critical upgrades, the recurrence has led to heightened scrutiny over Starknet’s operational resilience. Starknet is currently the seventh-largest Ethereum L2 network by total value locked (TVL), with $548 million in assets, according to L2beat.com. The platform relies on zero-knowledge (ZK) rollups—specifically STARK proofs—to provide high-throughput and low-cost transactions. However, the recent outages have highlighted the fragility of transitioning complex systems in a live environment, especially when introducing major infrastructure changes.

In response, Starknet announced that block production had resumed by early September 2, and most remote procedure call (RPC) providers were back online. The remaining providers were expected to complete their upgrades shortly. The team confirmed that a blockchain reorganization was committed, and transactions submitted during the outage would need to be resubmitted. While the network is now functional, the incident has raised questions about the adequacy of testing and risk management protocols during major upgrades. An official statement from Starknet’s X account emphasized that the team is committed to publishing a detailed retrospective of the outage, including root cause analysis and long-term prevention strategies.

The outage also had a measurable impact on Starknet’s native token, STRK, which fell more than 3 percent during the downtime, trading at $0.1232 according to CoinGecko. This drop underscored investor concerns about the network’s ability to maintain uptime and stability, which are critical for any blockchain platform aiming to attract institutional and enterprise users. Analysts and developers alike have stressed the importance of reliability in the blockchain space, where trust in the network’s performance is essential for long-term adoption. The Grinta upgrade, while promising in theory, has demonstrated that major changes to a live system can carry significant risks if not thoroughly vetted and phased in.

Despite these challenges, Starknet remains a key player in the Ethereum L2 ecosystem, with ongoing efforts to improve scalability and decentralization. The platform continues to explore new initiatives, including Bitcoin staking integration under SNIP-31 and enhancements to its SN Stack for appchain development. As the team works to address the technical issues exposed by the recent outages, the broader Ethereum L2 market is likely to remain watchful. The incident serves as a reminder that, while ZK-rollups like Starknet offer promising advancements in scalability and cost efficiency, operational stability must remain a top priority for maintaining user confidence and long-term success.

Source: [1] Ethereum L2 Starknet suffers 2nd mainnet outage in 2 (https://cointelegraph.com/news/starknet-outage-ethereum-l2-reliability-concerns) [2] Layer 2 blockchain development: Why businesses are adopting it in 2025 (https://medium.com/predict/layer-2-blockchain-development-why-businesses-are-adopting-it-in-2025-5d1393efa108) [3] Ethereum L2 Starknet Goes Dark for Hours Following (https://coinlaw.io/starknet-outage-grinta-upgrade-sequencer-failure/)