Base Network Failure
On August 5, the Base L2 network experienced a 33-minute block production outage. The project team later published a report detailing the incident. The outage was caused by an error in the Conductor automatic system, which is responsible for network stability. Under high load, the main sequencer began to work with a delay, and the system attempted to switch to the backup one. However, it was not fully configured and could not generate blocks.
Due to a configuration error, the faulty sequencer was unable to transfer control back, which led to a complete shutdown of the network. Engineers manually disabled Conductor to stop automatic switching, then selected a working sequencer and transferred control to it. This allowed the network to fully restore operation.
The developers promised to upgrade the infrastructure so that any sequencer could correctly transfer control in the event of a failure. The fixes are planned to be tested and implemented in the near future.
TON Price Drops 8%
The Open Network (TON) token rate fell by 7.9% after news of Verb Technology (Nasdaq) plans to become the first public company to use the coin as a key reserve asset. According to CoinGecko, TON is trading at $3.35 with a market cap of $8.1 billion.
Verb will rebrand as TON Strategy and raise $558 million in a private placement, a significant portion of which will be used to purchase the token and stake it. The round was led by Kingsway Capital with the participation of Blockchain.com, Vy Capital, Pantera, Animoca Brands, and other investors.
The planned investment in TON will amount to about 5% of the market value of the circulating supply, with 77% of the funds remaining in cash. The leadership positions will be taken by Kingsway CEO and TON Foundation President Manuel Stotz (Executive Chairman), Blockchain.com's Peter Smith (Advisor), Veronika Kapustina (CEO), and JPMorgan's Sarah Olsen (CFO).
Cardano Development Team Receives 96 Million ADA from Community
The Input Output Global (IOG) team has received approval to allocate 96 million ADA (~$70.6 million) from the Cardano treasury for the annual network development plan. The initiative was supported by 74% of voters (200 for, 6 against, 7 abstained).
The plan includes improving scalability and UX, launching the Hydra fast transaction protocol, implementing the modular architecture of Project Acropolis, optimizing staking pools, and preparing the basis for more complex smart contracts.
The decision has caused controversy in the community: some users doubt the justification of the budget and transparency of spending, suggesting to split the plan into separate stages with separate funding. The funds will be allocated in stages through smart contracts under the supervision of Intersect and a special committee. IOG has committed to publishing monthly reports, engineers' timesheets, and quarterly expense reports.
Base Network Overtakes Solana in Number of Tokens Created Per Day
The second-layer network Base, supported by Coinbase, overtook Solana in the number of new tokens created in a day for the first time. This happened on July 27, writes The Block.
That day, Base launched 54,341 tokens, while Solana launched 25,460. Over the course of a month, the average daily number of launches on the L2 network increased from 6,649 to over 50,000. The key factor in this jump was the integration of decentralized platforms Zora and Farcaster into the Base App.
User Loses $3 Million Due to Phishing Attack
Lookonchain analysts reported a major cryptocurrency theft — the victim lost about $3.05 million by signing a malicious transaction without fully verifying the smart contract address. The scammers used a popular trick, creating an address that looked like a real one: the first and last characters matched, and the differences were hidden in the middle — the very one that many wallets do not display in full.
Having gained access, the attacker withdrew the assets to his wallets, exchanged part of the funds for ETH and staked them. A similar incident occurred on August 4, when another investor lost over $900,000 after giving permission to a malicious contract a year ago. Experts remind that full verification of addresses and caution when signing transactions remain the best defense against such attacks.
TRON Project Creator Flies into Space
On August 2, TRON founder Justin Sun took a suborbital flight on the Blue Origin NS-34 mission. According to him, what he saw made him think about the importance of preserving the Earth. The flight on the New Shepard rocket lasted about ten minutes. During this time, Sun and five other team members experienced weightlessness and were able to look at the planet from an altitude of about 100 kilometers.
The wait for this moment stretched out for four years for the entrepreneur: back in 2021, he won an auction, paying $28 million for a seat on the first manned flight of New Shepard. However, in the spring of 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued him, and the flight had to be postponed.
The crypto community congratulated Sun on "reaching new heights."
