TON Blockchain Resumes Normal Operations After Temporary Outage Linked to DOGS Airdrop

The Open Network (TON) blockchain is back in action following a significant disruption that halted its block production for several hours. The TON Foundation confirmed the resolution of the issue on August 28, reporting that block production has resumed normally. At the time of the update, the TON network had reached a block count of 231,879,089, according to data from the TON transaction scanner Dton.io.

Disruption Causes and Resolution

The outage, which occurred earlier on August 28, was attributed to an abnormal load on the network. This congestion was triggered by the airdrop of DOGS, a new memecoin designed for the TON blockchain. The TON Foundation explained that the network issues stemmed from validators struggling to clear old transaction data, which disrupted the network’s consensus mechanism.

To address the problem, TON Core issued a call for validators to restart at 4:00 am UTC to restore network consensus. The Foundation assured users that no cryptocurrency assets were lost due to the issue and that all transactions would be processed.

DOGS, officially launched in July 2024, is a memecoin that has garnered significant attention within the Telegram community. Inspired by Spotty, a mascot promoted by Telegram founder Pavel Durov, DOGS has quickly become popular. The DOGS Community on Telegram has amassed nearly 17 million subscribers since its launch, reflecting strong user engagement.

The DOGS token was listed on major exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, OKX, Bitget, and Gate shortly after reports of Durov’s arrest in Paris on August 24. This high-profile listing, coupled with the excitement surrounding the token, led to massive network congestion as users rushed to claim their airdropped DOGS tokens.

Surge in Onchain Activity

The airdrop of DOGS resulted in a significant surge in network activity. According to a spokesperson from Wallet in Telegram, a third-party app facilitating cryptocurrency transactions for Telegram users, around four million users claimed DOGS tokens via the wallet after the token generation event on August 26. This unprecedented level of onchain activity generated a peak of over 67,000 transactions per second, far exceeding previous records.

In response to the high demand, Wallet in Telegram temporarily disabled some features to maintain service stability during the claim process. As of the latest update, 1.6 million of the four million users who claimed DOGS tokens have already engaged in various activities with their tokens, including transfers, deposits into Wallet Earn campaigns, and swaps via the P2P market.

The TON blockchain’s swift recovery from the disruption highlights the challenges and opportunities presented by rapidly growing ecosystems and high-profile airdrops. As the TON network continues to evolve, ensuring robust infrastructure and scalability will be crucial to managing future demand and maintaining smooth operations.