Twice down in two days! Coinbase's Base chain urgently announces: Mainnet upgrade to be postponed.

Ethereum Layer 2 network Base experienced two mainnet outages within two days, causing block production interruptions. The team has completed initial fixes and announced an urgent postponement of the originally scheduled Beryl hard fork and B20 activation plan.

Base Suffers Two Outages in Two Days, Mainnet Upgrade Plan Urgently Delayed

Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 network launched by Coinbase, recently experienced two mainnet outages within two days, temporarily halting normal block production. After completing initial fixes, the team announced that the originally planned Beryl hard fork and B20 activation have been postponed to prioritize network stability.

Base stated that Beryl was originally set to introduce multiple protocol updates and simultaneously activate the B20 Registry. However, due to recent consecutive mainnet anomalies and the need to readjust the B20 Registry deployment timeline, the upgrade has been paused, pending completion of testing and verification before announcing a new activation date.

Source: X/@buildonbase Base stated that the originally scheduled Beryl hard fork and B20 activation plan have been postponed

Sequencer Anomaly Causes Block Production to Halt

According to the incident report released by Base, the first outage was caused by a software bug in the Sequencer, preventing the system from normally creating new blocks, resulting in a two-hour interruption of mainnet block production.

Source: X/@buildonbase根據 Base's incident report indicated that the first outage was caused by a software bug in the Sequencer, preventing the system from normally creating new blocks

Shortly after the fix was completed, the mainnet experienced another anomaly, triggering an "Unsafe Head Stall" condition that prevented nodes from continuously syncing to the latest block height, once again affecting block production.

Base stated that the causes of the two incidents were different. Initial fixes have been completed, and root cause analysis is ongoing to reduce the likelihood of similar events recurring.

Beryl and B20 Delayed, System Verification Prioritized

The Base team stated that following recent consecutive mainnet anomalies, the decision was made to postpone the Beryl hard fork and B20 Registry activation to avoid introducing new protocol updates while the network is not yet fully stable.

Beryl is one of Base's key upgrades this year, encompassing improvements to network performance, transaction processing efficiency, and developer tools, alongside the B20 Registry, which establishes a new standardized registration mechanism. Since the two updates are interdependent, the team has adjusted the timeline accordingly, rescheduling the upgrade after testing is complete.

Base stated that no user assets have been affected, and no issues such as data loss or transaction tampering have been identified. The outages primarily impacted block production and transaction confirmation speed.

Layer 2 Stability Once Again Draws Market Attention

Base is one of the highest-volume Layer 2 networks in the Ethereum ecosystem and a key infrastructure for Coinbase's push into on-chain applications. Two outages within two days have prompted the market to reassess the stability and system architecture of Layer 2 networks amid rapid growth.

Currently, most Optimistic Rollups rely on the Sequencer for transaction ordering and submission. If the Sequencer experiences an anomaly, it can affect block production and transaction confirmation. Therefore, enhancing redundancy and reducing single points of failure have become key priorities for major Layer 2 projects.

This event has also led development teams to prioritize network stability over upgrade schedules. Base's future upgrade plans and measures to improve the Sequencer architecture will continue to draw market attention.