Canto Blockchain Halts Amid Consensus Issue, Plans Upgrade to Restore Operations

Canto, the Cosmos-based layer-1 blockchain, has been offline since Saturday due to a critical “consensus issue,” leaving the network in a state of paralysis for over 33 hours. The outage has sparked concern among users and investors, leading to an initial 21% drop in the value of the CANTO token before it partially recovered over the weekend.

According to data from Etherscan, the last confirmed transaction on the Canto blockchain was recorded on August 10, with no activity since then. Canto’s official block explorer, CantoScan, also confirms that the last block, number 10847516, was processed at 2:29 a.m. on August 11.

In an announcement on X (formerly Twitter), the Canto team acknowledged the issue, stating, “Canto chain is currently experiencing an issue with consensus that has caused the chain to halt. An upgrade to address this issue will be carried out on Monday, August 12, at 12:00 p.m. UTC. All funds are safe. Once the chain resumes, users will be able to access all activities as usual.”

The Canto team has been working to resolve the problem and has scheduled an upgrade to restore the network’s functionality. However, the exact nature of the consensus issue remains unclear. A consensus mechanism is a fundamental component of blockchain technology, responsible for validating transactions and ensuring their authenticity before they are recorded on the blockchain.

Canto’s unexpected outage comes just days after the blockchain implemented the Callisto upgrade on August 9. It is not yet known if the Callisto upgrade is connected to the current consensus issue, as Canto has not addressed whether the upgrade was successfully completed or if it contributed to the network’s problems.

Canto has seen significant volatility since its launch in August 2022. The blockchain, which positions itself as a permissionless, general-purpose platform designed for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, experienced explosive growth earlier this year. In March, its total value locked (TVL) surged to over $200 million as investors flocked to Canto’s DeFi services, including lending, staking, and liquidity provision. However, on-chain activity has since dwindled, with TVL plummeting to just $13.7 million, according to DefiLlama, and the CANTO token losing 83% of its value since May 24.

Canto’s journey has been marked by strategic shifts and challenges. Initially, the blockchain planned to migrate to the Ethereum network in September 2023 and become a layer-2 network. However, that decision was reversed in March 2024, and Canto has remained a layer-1 blockchain.

Despite the current outage, Canto’s team has assured users that their funds are safe and that normal operations will resume once the consensus issue is resolved. The scheduled upgrade on August 12 is expected to bring the network back online, allowing users to access all services as usual.

As the blockchain community waits for the upgrade, Canto’s resilience and ability to manage this crisis will be closely watched. The outcome of this incident could have significant implications for the platform’s future and its position in the competitive DeFi space.

Digital Assets Desk