Ethereum experiences two consecutive finality failures within 24 hours! What impact does it have on users, and will this occur frequently?

Ethereum experienced two instances of blocks not being confirmed within 24 hours, occurring at 4 a.m. on the 12th and 1 a.m. on the 13th. What caused these issues and how will they affect users?

Unable to Finalize Ethereum Blocks

According to Ethereum developer superphiz, an issue arose yesterday where the Ethereum beacon chain was unable to finalize blocks for about 25 minutes. It can be observed that although blocks were being produced continuously between Epoch 200,552 and Epoch 200,554, the finalization process could not be completed.

In response to this incident, superphiz stated that the cause cannot be determined, but also explained that the finalization mechanism is designed to prevent block reorganizations, ensuring that no transactions are terminated and no impact is made on chain activities.

Note: Finalizing is a fundamental feature of blockchain, taking around 15 minutes on Ethereum. Once a block is finalized, the transactions within that block and previous blocks become permanent and immutable.

The beacon chain stopped finalizing about thirty minutes ago. I don't know why yet, but in general the chain is designed to be resilient against this, transactions will continue as usual and finalization will kick in when the problem is resolved. pic.twitter.com/utAS0uAWpG

— superphiz.eth 🦇🔊🛡️ (@superphiz) May 11, 2023

Repeated Issue with Prolonged Duration

However, in the early hours of today, analyst Jack Inabinet from Bankless discovered the same issue occurring again, persisting for approximately an hour between Epoch 200,749 and Epoch 200,757.

Ethereum has failed to finalize for nearly an hour… for the second time in under 24 hours ❤️🗡️ pic.twitter.com/T9gnjAv12H

— Jack Inabinet ⚫️_⚫️ 🛡️ (@JackInabinet) May 12, 2023

The cause of this phenomenon remains unconfirmed at present, but most opinions point towards Ethereum clients. After the second occurrence of the problem, superphiz suggested upgrading hardware specifications, switching to smaller clients, and applying patches when available.

Furthermore, superphiz asserted the anticipation of a third occurrence, but once again reassured the Ethereum community not to worry, as Ethereum continues to operate without interruption and block finalization will still be completed.

The second wave is over, but I fully expect a third. Increase your hardware spec if you can, switch to a minority client if you can. Apply patches when they're available. But really, don't worry too much. As bad as this looks, the chain keeps going and eventually finalizes.

— superphiz.eth 🦇🔊🛡️ (@superphiz) May 12, 2023