Degen Chain, a Layer 3 Ethereum-based blockchain tailored for the Degen meme token, has encountered a significant operational setback, triggering an extended period of downtime that has disrupted its core functionalities and associated services.

The disruption unfolded abruptly, with the network abruptly halting the production of new blocks and failing to validate incoming transactions for over 11 hours, as indicated by data from its block explorer. The issue first came to light when the network stalled at block #15524774, approximately at 4:15 p.m. ET on Sunday.

The prolonged downtime has effectively rendered several decentralized applications and bridges reliant on Degen Chain, including Relay bridge, DegenSwap, Mint Club, and Frogswap, non-functional. Consequently, users engaging with these platforms are presently unable to execute transactions or access essential services.

In response to the crisis, the team behind Degen Chain has initiated efforts to rectify the downtime in collaboration with Conduit, a leading rollup infrastructure platform. Despite these concerted efforts, the precise cause of the outage and the estimated timeline for full restoration remain undisclosed at the time of reporting.

Degen Chain, engineered on the Arbitrum Orbit tech stack, operates predominantly on Base and employs the AnyTrust protocol to ensure robust data availability and integrity.

Developed under the auspices of Syndicate, a prominent Web3 services provider, Degen Chain debuted in late March, garnering considerable attention within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. As per data from DeFiLlama, the platform currently boasts a total value locked (TVL) of $2.6 million, indicative of its growing prominence and user adoption.

A notable distinguishing feature of Degen Chain is its utilization of Degen as its native gas token, diverging from the convention of using Ethereum (ETH) for gas fees. Degen, an ERC-20 token hosted on Base, originated from the Degen channel on Farcaster in January 2024, embodying the platform's commitment to innovation and experimentation.

Remarkably, despite the network-wide disruptions plaguing Degen Chain, the on-chain activities of the Degen token on Base remain unaffected, continuing to operate seamlessly without interruption. This resilience underscores the robustness of the underlying infrastructure supporting the token's functionality amidst broader network challenges.