Coinbase-backed Base returns after 2-hour consensus halt

Coinbase-backed Base returned online after a consensus issue stopped block production for almost two hours on Thursday. 

The Ethereum layer-2 network said blocks were again being produced normally after engineers worked through the incident.

Base first reported unhealthy block production on its official status page at 4:03 p.m. UTC. The team later said it had isolated a consensus problem that caused an invalid block to be sequenced. That event stopped new blocks from being created after block 47,806,542.

In a later X update, Base said, “blocks are being produced normally” and that it had verified broad recovery across the ecosystem. The team added that it would continue to investigate the root cause and share a full post-mortem.

The outage marked a rare halt for one of the busiest Ethereum scaling networks. Base supports trading, payments, apps and token transfers for users and builders. A block production pause stops new on-chain activity until the network resumes.

Pollak says funds were safe

Base creator Jesse Pollak said user funds were safe during the outage. In a post on X, he said, “funds are safe,” but added that “a halt is not okay” for a platform trying to support global finance.

The statement aimed to calm users while also acknowledging the seriousness of the halt. Network downtime can affect apps, wallets, exchanges and bridge services that depend on fresh blocks. It can also delay transactions that users expected to settle quickly.

Base said ecosystem node operators needed to restart nodes to recover syncing. The status page also said internal nodes had resumed syncing correctly. That step helped infrastructure providers return to normal after sequencing resumed.

The team did not give a final technical explanation beyond the invalid block and consensus problem. A fuller report is expected to explain how the invalid block entered sequencing, why the chain stopped, and what checks will change.

Beryl upgrade adds timing pressure

The outage happened just before Base completed its Beryl upgrade. The upgrade was scheduled around the same day and later went live after the network recovered. Beryl aims to cut some withdrawal delays and support a new B20 token standard for assets such as stablecoins and real-world asset tokens.

Meanwhile, the Beryl upgrade reduces the standard Base-to-Ethereum withdrawal delay from seven days to five days. It also introduces a native token standard built into Base’s node software rather than only through smart contracts.

As previously reported, Base suffered a 33-minute outage in August 2025 after a sequencer handoff problem stopped block production. That earlier incident also led to infrastructure changes and more testing.

The new halt may renew questions about sequencer design and uptime. Base plays a growing role in Coinbase’s wider product plans. Coinbase has been expanding beyond crypto trading into stocks, lending, payments and AI-linked tools.

Reliability remains key for institutions

Base has also become important for institutional blockchain use. In a previous article, crypto.news discussed JPMorgan launching JPM Coin on Base for faster institutional payments and 24/7 settlement. That kind of use requires strong uptime and clear recovery steps when problems appear.

Base is not the only major network to face downtime this year. Previously, crypto.news explored Sui’s second network stall in May, when block production stopped and the SUI token fell. The Base incident shows that even large networks can face edge-case failures.

For now, Base says block production has recovered. The next test will be the post-mortem. Users and builders will look for a clear cause, a fix, and steps that reduce the chance of another halt.