The
Arbitrum
(ARB)
network
experienced
a
“partial
outage”
Friday
amid
a
surge
in
transaction
traffic
that
impacted
the
layer-2
blockchain’s
sequencer.
Arbitrum’s
sequencer
stalled
“during
a
significant
surge
in
network
traffic,”
according
to
posts
across
the
network’s
social
media
on
Friday.
“We
are
working
to
resolve
as
quickly
as
possible
and
will
provide
a
post-mortem
as
soon
as
possible,”
read
a
post
on
Arbitrum’s
status
webpage.
Sequencers
have
been
likened
to
an
“air
traffic
control”
for
deciding
which
transactions
land
first
on
layer-2
networks
such
as
Arbitrum.
They’re
an
essential
link
between
the
L2
and
and
the
base
chain,
Ethereum.
But
they’re
also
a
single
point
of
failure.
The
outage
spawned
chaos
and
confusion
in
the
Arbitrum
community.
A
previously
scheduled
12
p.m.
ET
(17:00
UTC)
“ask
me
anything”
Twitter
Spaces
was
abruptly
canceled
by
an
Arbitrum
employee
shortly
after
it
began.
The
Arbitrum
Discord
piled
high
with
messages
from
traders
fearful
of
what
would
happen
to
their
positions
when
the
network
came
back
online.
Arbitrum’s
sequencer
last
stalled
out
in
June
after
a
bug
created
a
backlog
of
unprocessed
transactions.
That
issue
was
patched
in
a
matter
of
hours.
The
tech
issues
failed
to
rattle
markets
for
Arbitrum’s
ARB
token,
which
was
already
trading
slightly
down
for
the
day.