Polygon zkEVM Experiences Downtime Amid Blockchain Sequencer Problems

Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Polygon has announced that its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) is currently experiencing downtime due to an issue with its blockchain sequencer. In a post on X, Polygon assured its two million followers that the problem is confined to zkEVM alone.

“This only impacts Polygon zkEVM (the only rollup) and does not impact Polygon PoS, Polygon CDK, or any chain deployed using Polygon CDK.

Polygon clarified that the problem originates from the blockchain sequencer, which arranges and melds trades into groups before passing them to Polygon zkEVM smart contract on Ethereum’s main network. The blockchain platform stated that it is currently in the process of resolving the whole issue and assured that a “post-mortem” report would be issued upon completion.

Polygon zkEVM Mainnnet Beta faced an issue with its sequencer due to an L1 reorg. We are working on fully resolving the issue and will follow up with a detailed post-mortem.

This only impacts Polygon zkEVM (which is the only rollup) and does not impact Polygon PoS, Polygon CDK,…

— Polygon | Aggregated (@0xPolygon) March 23, 2024

Community Concerns Amidst Network Downtime

Furthermore, Users on the X platform discussed extended network downtime; the crypto community remained silent. One user, 0xngmi, asked, “Why does no one seem to be talking about Polygon’s zkEVM running for 10 hours and still counting?” On the other hand, Mirza. inj made a post. The Polygon’s zkEVM has been down for more than ten hours now with no announcement.

The Solana network experienced significant downtime last month. Block production ceased for over five hours on February 6, 2022, before network validators successfully reignited operations. Since January 2022, Solana has experienced approximately six major outages. In March 2023, Polygon launched zkEVM on its mainnet beta. This upgrade allowed developers to apply smart contracts at a lower cost. Polygon achieved this by creating zkEVM.

It mirrors Ethereum’s mainnet transaction execution environment and utilizes transaction batching to facilitate DApps scaling. As Polygon works to resolve the zkEVM downtime, stakeholders keenly observe the developments. They underscore the importance of robust infrastructure in the rapidly evolving blockchain ecosystem.

Last September, Verichains, a leading blockchain security firm, identified a critical flaw in Polygon zkEVM. The flaw was found in the zkProver module, rendering the network vulnerable to proof forgery attacks. This vulnerability poses a considerable risk to the security and integrity of funds within the blockchain ecosystem’s layers 1 and 2. Notably, Polygon and Verichains have collaboratively fixed the issue.

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