Celo network back online after nearly 24-hour outage

This was the first time the Celo mainnet went down in over two years.

The Celo proof-of-stake blockchain suffered from an intermittent network outage that lasted 24 hours, although the blockchain appears to be back up and running now.

Celo is an open-source blockchain that allows users with phone numbers to make payments with crypto by using their phone numbers as a proxy for public keys.

Celo updated his Twitter followers after the network came back online, noting that this was the network's first outage since the mainnet launched on April 22, 2020, and that he has begun a "in-depth and accelerated technical analysis" to get to the bottom of the matter.

The protocol initially announced that the network crashed on July 14 at 00:04 (UTC) at block 14035019, ensuring that "all funds are safe".

It resumed about nine hours later for several minutes before stopping again at block 14,035,045.

At the time of writing, the network appears to be back up and running following an upgrade of its validator nodes to version 1.5.8, according to block explorer Celo.

Update: Celo validators have resolved the first network outage since the launch of the mainnet on April 22, 2020. In-depth technical analysis and fast track is underway and details will be readily shared with the Celo community.

On the protocol's Discord channel, one of the network's validators with the username "Dee" said he considered the latest outage "part of the growing pains" of the network, but that he remained confident in the fundamentals as it was the network's first shutdown in over two years.

"Even Visa has experienced a network outage for the past two years, despite being a market leader in payments for over 60 years."

The Celo protocol white paper claims that it allows users to send payments "as easily as texting me...