TON Blockchain Faces Major Setbacks Amid DOGS Token Frenzy
The TON blockchain, closely linked to Telegram, has experienced two significant outages within 48 hours, triggered by an overwhelming surge in transactions related to the DOGS token.
By Laura Mendes
The TON blockchain encountered two major disruptions in just 48 hours, raising serious questions about the network's stability and capacity to handle high transaction volumes. The outages were caused by a massive influx of transactions linked to the newly launched DOGS token, which overwhelmed the network.
Repeated Outages: The DOGS Token Effect
The first outage occurred on Tuesday, causing the network to go offline for several hours before it was restored. Just a day later, on Wednesday evening, the network experienced another shutdown, this time lasting around four hours. In both instances, the root cause was identified as a surge in traffic due to the mass creation of the DOGS token.
Initially launched to boost the visibility of the TON network and support Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who was recently arrested in France, the DOGS token inadvertently destabilized the blockchain. The TON development team quickly responded by urging mainnet validators to update their nodes and restart the network.
Impact on Toncoin Price
Despite these repeated disruptions, the price of Toncoin, the native token of the TON blockchain, showed only minor fluctuations. After the second outage, Toncoin dropped by just 1% over four hours and 4% over 24 hours, reflecting a relatively modest impact compared to what similar outages might cause on other blockchains.
A Complicated Context for TON and Telegram
These technical challenges come at a difficult time for TON and Telegram. Although legally separate, the two entities are closely associated. Pavel Durov, Telegram's founder and CEO, was recently arrested in France on various charges, including allegedly facilitating illicit transactions and child exploitation on his platform. These events had already affected Toncoin's price even before the outages, exacerbating concerns about the project's future.
The TON development team is now working tirelessly to understand and resolve the underlying issues caused by the DOGS token. As the project continues to grow, it will be crucial for TON to strengthen its infrastructure and implement robust mechanisms to manage high transaction loads, preventing similar outages in the future.
