- Sui halted 6 hours due to validator consensus divergence; no funds were lost.
- Ethereum sees record stickiness, adding 4M new active addresses.
- L1 reliability and user retention increasingly drive investor confidence.
The Sui blockchain ($SUI) experienced a roughly six-hour network outage that halted block production and transactions across all validators. In a post-mortem published January 16, the Sui Foundation confirmed that the disruption resulted from an internal divergence in validator consensus processing. Validators failed to agree on checkpoint certification, leading to stalled transactions.
Despite the outage, Sui emphasized that its safety mechanisms functioned as designed, preventing any loss of user funds or inconsistencies in finalized states. RPC read requests continued to deliver the last certified state unless nodes were specifically configured to stop serving data after extended inactivity.
How Engineers Restored Network Stability
The root cause involved validators reaching conflicting consensus digests, stalling checkpoint certification. Engineers deployed a fix that purged erroneous consensus data and replayed the affected portion of the consensus history. Mysten Labs validators first tested the patch before a broader rollout, ensuring that checkpoint signing resumed normally.
Following the fix, the network returned to normal operation. SUI trading briefly dipped 4% during the outage but recovered the next day, stabilizing around $1.78. Community concern remains, as this marks the second major outage since Sui’s 2023 launch, highlighting the ongoing reliability challenges for new Layer-1 blockchains.
Ethereum’s User Retention Hits Multi-Year Highs
In contrast, Ethereum (ETH) is experiencing a surge in stickiness among its user base. On-chain data from Glassnode shows a doubling of Month-over-Month activity retention for new addresses, with roughly 4 million new active users added in the past month. Daily transaction throughput reached 2.8 million—a 125% year-over-year increase—while average fees remained relatively low thanks to Layer-2 adoption and the Fusaka upgrade.
This spike reflects real, engaged users rather than speculative or bot-driven activity. Analysts note that Ethereum’s retention-driven growth may influence valuation models, emphasizing network utility over deflationary supply. Staking activity also continues to rise, with over 50% of ETH supply currently locked.
What This Means for L1 Blockchains
The recent events underscore the contrast in Layer-1 blockchain maturity and resilience. While Sui’s outage highlights the risks of validator consensus bugs in newer networks, Ethereum demonstrates the benefits of network stickiness and robust Layer-2 scaling. For investors and developers, these trends highlight that network reliability and active user engagement are increasingly critical metrics alongside price performance.
Also Read: Sui Network Down, But SUI Price Doesn’t Blink — Here’s Why
Sui has outlined improvements to reduce downtime in future edge cases, including earlier detection of checkpoint inconsistencies, better automated tooling for operators, and expanded adversarial testing. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s user base growth shows that established networks continue to attract sustained engagement, even amid market volatility.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The author’s views are personal and may not reflect the views of CoinBrief.io. Before making any investment decisions, you should always conduct your own research. CoinBrief.io is not responsible for any financial losses.
