The Base network, developed by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, experienced outages following a failure in Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers, temporarily affecting transaction processing and balance display. In contrast, networks like Solana and Ethereum remained operational, demonstrating greater resilience to this type of failure.
The problem originated on October 20 in Amazon data centers located in the northern region of Virginia, where a connectivity failure affected key storage services and domain resolution. This caused disruptions to multiple platforms globally, from exchanges like Coinbase and financial applications like Robinhood, to social networks and streaming services.
In Base’s case, its direct dependence on Amazon’s cloud services left it particularly exposed. The main peak of the fall is extended for just over an hourbetween 8:23 and 9:50 UTC on October 20.
However, unlike Base, both Solana and Ethereum managed to overcome the incident without major complications.
In the case of Solana, his structure more decentralized —with validators distributed among different providers— allowed the failure will not affect your operations. DoubleZero, an infrastructure provider, reported that 31% of Solana validators operate on their own network, thus strengthening their independence and stability.
Ethereum, for its part, managed keep the flow of blocks and transactions without relevant interruptions. Some nodes on AWS experienced lower latencies, but thanks to its globally distributed infrastructure, its core network resisted better than the so-called “secondary layers”—such as Optimism, Arbitrum, and Polygon—which did experience delays and difficulties accessing data.
Although the episode was brief compared to other major falls, it once again highlighted the fragility of many projects due to their dependence on centralized infrastructures. For thousands of users trying to access their funds or execute trades, it was a reminder of how a single point of failure can impact an entire global ecosystem.
This incident with Base and Solana’s resilience also puts the latter’s historical stability into perspective. As reported by CriptoNoticias, since its last setback recorded in February 2024, when a failure in the compilation of programs caused a five-hour stoppage, the network has completed more than a year without interruptions nor incident reports.