Sui Mainnet Restarts After Nearly Six-Hour Outage Triggered by Update Bug
The Sui network has returned to normal operations after suffering a major outage that left its mainnet offline for almost six hours, with developers blaming the disruption on a flaw introduced during a recent software update.
The incident marked the second significant downtime event for the blockchain in 2026, raising fresh questions around network stability as the ecosystem continues to expand.
In a statement shared on X, the Sui team confirmed that the issue stemmed from a “crash bug” linked to gas charging logic included in the network’s 1.72 release. Validators worked to restore the chain after transaction processing came to a standstill, eventually bringing the network back online after approximately five hours and 55 minutes.
Before services resumed, the project had warned users that the blockchain was experiencing a “network stall,” adding that transaction activity could remain paused until engineers deployed a fix. While operations have restarted, some validators were still reporting degraded performance following the recovery.
The outage follows a similar disruption earlier this year when the Sui mainnet was offline for more than six hours in January. The blockchain also faced a validator crash loop in late 2024 that temporarily halted transaction confirmations across the network.
Despite the repeated interruptions, Sui remains one of the larger decentralized finance ecosystems among emerging layer-1 chains. Data from DeFi analytics platforms shows the network currently supports over 130 protocols and maintains more than $500 million in total value locked.
The disruption also affected market sentiment around the network’s native token, SUI. The asset slid roughly 6% during the outage before trimming some losses as the chain recovered.
The pullback comes just weeks after SUI rallied sharply on the back of several ecosystem developments, including institutional staking activity and announcements of upcoming features such as zero-fee stablecoin transfers and privacy-focused transaction tools.
Mysten Labs, the company behind the blockchain, has continued to position Sui as a high-performance network designed for large-scale financial applications since launching the mainnet in 2023.
During Consensus 2026, co-founder Adeniyi Abiodun reiterated plans to introduce private transaction capabilities while also confirming that fee-free stablecoin transfers are expected to arrive soon.
The outage adds to a broader list of disruptions across the crypto sector this year. Several decentralized finance platforms have also faced operational setbacks and cyberattacks, highlighting ongoing challenges around infrastructure reliability and security in the digital asset industry.