CORRECT (Aug. 5, 10:00 UTC): Changes reference to first outage since 2023. An earlier version of this story said the outage was the blockchain's first since its debut.

Base, Coinbase’s (COIN) Ethereum layer-2 scaling product, ground to a halt for the first time since 2023, disabling critical functions including block production, deposits, withdrawals and flashblock operations for 29 minutes before service resumed.

The incident occurred at 06:15 UTC as a result of an “unsafe head delay," according to Base’s page. That is a technical fault disrupting the network's ability to confirm and produce blocks.

The team responded at 06:43 UTC that it was investigating the stoppage, and just a minute later reported the issue had been identified and resolved, with monitoring put in place to ensure no further complications emerged.

The outage is the first since , when the blockchain went down for about 45 minutes.

Though brief, the outage is significant given Base's growing role in the Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem. Since its introduction, Base has accrued $4.2 billion in total value locked (TVL). A substantial portion of this, some $1.5 billion, is tied to the Morpho lending protocol, according to data from .

UPDATE (Aug. 5, 10:10 UTC): Adds previous outage in penultimate paragraph.