Canto Blockchain is interrupted again but token prices surge

Layer-1 blockchain Canto has encountered another halt in block production after a brief return online, with the team reporting "unforeseen secondary effects" as the latest issue.

Interruption Details

The Cosmos-based blockchain resumed operations on August 12 at approximately 12:35 pm UTC after implementing a scheduled fix. However, it stopped again about 90 minutes later at block 10,848,199. The initial upgrade was intended to address a consensus mechanism issue, a critical process for validating and authenticating transactions on the blockchain.

Development Team Response

Canto’s core development team, B-Harvest, acknowledged the complications, citing a "proposer priority issue" as the cause of the secondary effects. They are currently working on a new version, v8.1.0, expected to be ready for validators within about 15 hours from the time of the announcement.

Validator Role and Assurance

Validators are essential to the blockchain's operation, responsible for adding new blocks and verifying transactions. Despite the disruptions, Canto assured users that their funds remain secure and that normal activities will resume once the blockchain is back online.

Token Price Reaction

Interestingly, despite the technical difficulties, Canto's token price has surged by 80% over the past 24 hours, reaching $0.07. This is still significantly below its all-time high of $0.7236, achieved on August 2, 2023.

Canto has taken the time to post a meme making light of the issue. Source: Canto

Background on Canto

Canto, launched in August 2022, is a permissionless, general-purpose blockchain tailored for decentralised finance (DeFi) applications and is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Although there were plans to transition Canto to a layer-2 network on the Ethereum Network in September 2023, this decision was reversed in March 2024, and it has remained a layer-1 blockchain.