Polygon, one of Ethereum’s leading Layer-2 networks, has completed a hard fork to fix a bug that slowed down its transaction confirmations earlier this week. The problem appeared on September 10, causing delays of up to 15 minutes in reaching “local fast finality”—the system that confirms transactions quickly within Polygon’s network.
According to the team, the network is now fully operational. Milestones, checkpoints, and consensus finalization are all back to normal, and developers are keeping a close eye on things to ensure the network remains stable.
What Went Wrong?
The network slowed down because of a bug in Polygon’s software. The validators, which check and confirm transactions to keep the network safe, weren’t syncing correctly. Ethereum itself wasn’t affected, but Polygon users noticed that transactions took longer than usual to finalize.
Some DeFi apps also reported brief downtime, and Polygonscan, the main block explorer, stopped updating for more than five hours. Despite these hiccups, the Polygon team assured users that no funds were at risk.
The Fixes
Polygon rolled out two key updates to resolve the issue:
- Bor v2.2.11-beta2: This update fixed problems with block production and added a command to clean up local whitelisted entries for checkpoints and milestones. Node operators had to stop the Bor service, install the new version, purge entries, rewind one block before the incorrect milestone, and restart.
- Heimdall v0.3.1: This was a hard fork release, scheduled for 3 p.m. UTC on September 10, to restore consensus and state synchronization. Node operators were instructed to update, restart the service, and restart telemetry services.
Market Reaction
During the network glitch, Polygon’s token, POL, slipped about 4%. The drop didn’t last long, and the token quickly bounced back, currently 2% up, once the hard fork went through.
Now that the updates are done, Polygon’s network is working normally again. The team is also watching closely to make sure transactions go through quickly and no one experiences delays.
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