The TON blockchain, central to the Toncoin (TON) cryptocurrency, recently faced two significant outages within a 24-hour period, disrupting transactions and raising questions about its capacity to handle high traffic.
The outages were primarily caused by an overload from the minting of the DOGS token, which temporarily halted block production for over three hours. The TON Network team announced on X.com that the network struggled to process transactions, leading to a critical update for mainnet validators to restart their nodes.
Impact on Toncoin and Network Stability
Despite these disruptions, Toncoin’s price remained relatively stable. It dipped by only 0.99% over four hours and saw a 4% decrease over 24 hours,. This is in contrast to previous declines, including a 2% drop following the initial outage. Over the past four days, TON has experienced a cumulative decrease of 16.5%, reflecting the growing impact of these events on investor confidence.
The initial outage, occurring during Asian trading hours, lasted about seven hours and was similarly linked to the heavy traffic generated by the DOGS token airdrop. While the immediate price effects were minimal, the ongoing stability of the network remains a concern.
Telegram’s Role in TON’s Growth
The TON blockchain, originally developed by Telegram but later transitioned to the community, has gained significant traction recently. Toncoin’s climb into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization underscores its growing importance. Although Telegram now operates independently of TON, the token continues to be widely used by Telegram’s user base.
Ongoing Network Challenges
These recent outages highlight the ongoing challenges the TON blockchain faces, especially in managing high transaction volumes. The network is already under pressure following the arrest of Telegram’s founder and CEO, Pavel Durov. The DOGS token airdrop was intended to raise awareness about Durov’s situation, but it inadvertently contributed to the network’s instability. While the price of Toncoin has so far shown resilience, repeated disruptions could have more significant long-term effects if not addressed.
