Three Sui halts in 48 hours from upgrade bug
Sui experienced three mainnet outages over two days due to an edge case in gas-charging logic from a new feature. The bug caused validators to crash, with each fix triggering further halts. No funds were lost, but SUI dropped 8% amid network instability concerns.
Quick Take
Sui’s v1.72 upgrade introduced a bug in gas-charging logic for mixed payment types.
Three separate halts occurred within 48 hours; each fix exposed another bug.
No user funds were lost, but SUI fell 8% to $0.90, down 19% on the week.
This is Sui’s third major reliability incident since its 2023 launch.
Market Impact Analysis
BearishMultiple mainnet halts undermine confidence, resulting in immediate selling pressure and potential delayed adoption.
Speculation Analysis
Key Takeaways
- Sui’s v1.72 upgrade introduced a gas-charging bug that caused three mainnet halts over May 28-29.
- Validators crashed from an underflow error when canceled transactions attempted to spend already consumed funds.
- SUI price fell 8% to $0.90 during the outage cascade, posting a 19% weekly drop.
- This is Sui’s third major network incident since launch, amplifying reliability concerns.
- The network is now operational with a robust fix, but confidence remains shaken.
What Happened
Sui’s mainnet halted three times in 48 hours on May 28-29 due to a bug in the v1.72 upgrade. The new address-balance feature introduced a rare gas-charging edge case that crashed validators when transactions were canceled for insufficient funds. The first outage lasted nearly seven hours. An interim fix carried a known risk that triggered a second halt the next day. A third stall occurred when the subsequent randomness protocol failed after validators restarted. No funds were lost, but the repeated disruptions rattled the market.
The Numbers
The first outage stretched close to seven hours, from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. PT on May 28. SUI slid 8% to $0.90 during the disruption, pushing the token’s weekly decline to 19%. The second halt began at 5 a.m. PT on May 29, with a robust fix adopted by 9:40 a.m. PT. This marks the third major reliability incident for Sui since its 2023 mainnet launch.
Why It Happened
The bug originated in Sui’s v1.72 upgrade, which added an address-balance feature for gas payments. A rare condition arose when a transaction with mixed balance and coin objects was canceled for insufficient funds. The gas-smashing logic attempted to spend already consumed funds, causing an underflow error that crashed validators. The first fix patched only the most common trigger; a second variant emerged the next morning. The third halt resulted from a randomness protocol failure after validators restarted, revealing a latent persistence bug. These cascading failures underscore the risks of rolling out complex upgrades to live networks.
Broader Impact
The recurrence of major outages on Sui — now three since 2023 — risks eroding developer and user confidence. While the network’s object-oriented model promises high throughput, repeated instability could deter projects seeking a reliable foundation. The incident may prompt calls for more rigorous testing and slower upgrade rollouts across the layer-1 ecosystem.
What to Watch Next
- Sui Foundation’s post-mortem commits to improving upgrade testing. Watch for concrete process changes.
- SUI’s price may remain under pressure unless a period of uninterrupted mainnet operation restores confidence.
- Keep an eye on validator stability and any emergency upgrade proposals that could signal residual bugs.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
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