The Telegram Open Network (TON) has stopped validating new transactions and hasn’t produced a new block in more than three hours.
In an Aug. 28 post to X, the TON-based community platform Tonk Inu that the TON network had been experiencing an ongoing outage and pinned the blame on a frenzy of market hype over a newly launched memecoin called DOGS.
The last transactions on TON were approved more than three hours ago in block 45341899, with the network failing to produce any new blocks from then onwards, according to TON network tracker Tonscan.
Source: Tonscan
Citing network instability, crypto exchange ByBit said it had suspended all deposits and withdrawals to TON until the network had been restored to normal.
In an Aug. 28 post to X, TON Foundation member Justin said the outage was the result of a “network overload” due to the high number of DOGS transactions. Additionally, he noted that TON validators had also become overloaded, causing them to lose consensus.
“To restore consensus validators will be called upon to restart at 4:00 UTC,” Justin added.
Source: X
Cointelegraph contacted TON for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The DOGS memecoin was launched on the Telegram Open Network on Aug. 27.
The token, which is already listed on major exchanges such as Binance and OKX, witnessed $1.7 billion in trading volume within the first ten hours of launch and reached a peak market capitalization of $891 million.
The price of the memecoin peaked at $0.0018 immediately after launch and has since fallen to around $0.0013 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The latest canine-themed memecoin on TON comes immediately following an official rebrand by the TON Society on Aug. 26 to support Telegram creator Pavel Durov who was recently arrested in France.
“We are updating Toncoin’s logo and profile pictures across TON Community channels to the global symbol of Digital Resistance — the Resistance Dog,” stated TON Society.
It explained that the dog symbol harks back to 2011 when Pavel Durov was ordered to eradicate the posts of liberal thinkers and dissidents.
“In response, Pavel posted a picture of his dog, refusing to silence anyone on his platform. Since then, this dog has become the mascot of free speech. It has become an emblem of hope, incredible strength, and courage.”
Source: Ton Society
The TON Society also announced an “Open Letter Mini App” in the messaging platform urging the French authorities to free Durov from detention and “allow Telegram to protect the freedom of expression and right to private life for its users.”
It had accrued 1.48 million signatures at the time of writing.
Related: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest has worrying implications for crypto
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was detained by French authorities on Aug. 24 with a search warrant targeting alleged violations of the encrypted messaging platform.
The network’s native token, TON, has tanked 24% since the arrest and is currently trading down 1.7% on the day at $5.22.
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