Zilliqa’s (ZIL) most recent outage on January 16 was just another incident in a series of technical difficulties that have been plaguing the high-throughput blockchain network. The disruption, caused by synchronization issues in its look-up nodes crucial for transaction validation, forced the network to halt operations temporarily. Notably, this follows a more severe disruption in late September 2024, when a bug completely halted block production, leaving users unable to conduct transactions or access their funds.
The Zilliqa team was quick to assure users that their funds were secure, even encouraging them to verify balances via the on-chain explorer ViewBlock.io. However, these assurances have done little to quell the growing concerns about Zilliqa’s reliability among its community.
Disgruntled users took to social media to express their frustration with Zilliqa’s recurring technical issues. One user, EGerardCrypto, tweeted: “If these issues are occurring now, before real adoption, what confidence can we give to potential clients? Downtime and disruptions like this raise serious concerns about reliability. How do we ensure this doesn’t become the norm during higher traffic and usage?”
Another user, Moharnab Hazarika, lamented about the impact of these problems on general enthusiasm for the platform, stating, “Why is Zilliqa going through these types of problems??? Normies are losing excitement.”
It’s worth noting that these incidents seem to have occurred shortly after the network’s 2.0 upgrade, aimed at improving network performance and cross-chain compatibility. Despite the developers implementing what they described as a “permanent fix” after the September outage, the synchronization issue and the subsequent disruption have sparked concerns about the reliability of the network’s infrastructure.
This isn’t the first time Zilliqa has experienced such issues. In May 2024, the network experienced a slowdown in block production. Additionally, a December 2023 incident temporarily halted transactions. Each time, while developers have promptly restored functionality and assured users of the network’s safety, the recurring problems point to underlying challenges in maintaining stability.
As of now, the ZIL price is approximately $0.0225, with a market cap of $435 million. However, with the repeated outages and the growing concerns among its community, Zilliqa’s future as a high-throughput blockchain is uncertain. Despite the team’s efforts to resolve these issues quickly and assure users of their funds’ safety, it’s clear that more needs to be done to restore faith in Zilliqa’s reliability.
