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Ripple’s XRP Ledger (XRPL) temporarily halted block production for about an hour on Tuesday due to a possible network drift. The network has since fully recovered, with no loss of assets or transactions reported.
XRP Ledger Experiences Unusual Halt in Block Production
Ripple’s XRP Ledger, one of the longest-running blockchain networks, experienced a rare disruption as block production stalled at ledger height 93,927,173 before spontaneously recovering.
According to Ripple CTO David Schwartz, the issue stemmed from the network failing to publish validations, causing the consensus process to drift apart. Despite the disruption, XRPL resumed normal operations without requiring significant intervention from validators.
Schwartz shared his preliminary observations in an X post, saying, “It looked like consensus was running but validations were not being published, causing the network to drift apart. Validator operators manually intervened to choose a sane starting point after the last ledger that anyone could have seen as fully validated and begin publishing validations from there.”
The incident raised concerns about network security and transaction safety, but Schwartz reassured the community that no funds were at risk, as servers recognized the issue and did not process untrusted ledgers.
This disruption follows previous technical challenges for XRPL, including a node crash in November 2024. While the XRPL Foundation has expanded its Unique Node List (UNL) to improve decentralization, some critics argue that these changes may have contributed to network instability.
Despite the setback, XRPL’s ability to self-recover underscores its resilience, though the incident highlights the need for ongoing improvements in its validator coordination and network stability.