The EOS blockchain has ground to a halt after an apparent bug in the mainnet software caused the network to pause unexpectedly and indefinitely.
According to a post from EOS New York published on behalf of the top 21 block producers and standby nodes, the mainnet unexpectedly paused at 9:56 UTC, after which block producers initiated a conference call to identify and discuss the issue. At 10:57 UTC, standby block producers turned off their nodes and backed up blockchain data to help ensure that no network history would be lost.
Developers identified the problem at 13:02 UTC, and an update posted on the EOS Mainnet Updates Telegram channel stated that EOS creator Block.one is developing a software patch.
“Root cause was due to how deferred transactions were handled. Fix is being released shortly by BlockOne.”
That software release, which will be issued under tag 1.0.5, will introduce a nodeos fix. Once block producers have upgraded their nodes, blocks will be replayed until the last irreversible block — 1027597, according to CryptoLions.io — and block producers will sync to each other. Finally, the chain will be reopened to public access.
As CCN.com reported, the EOS network had only been activated on June 14, and this network fault came less than 48 hours after the blockchain went live.
While block producers have been taking great pains to keep users in the loop about the state of the network, the fact that the blockchain is currently being debugged over a conference call has highlighted why many critics have argued that EOS is not a sufficiently-decentralized cryptocurrency.
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