On June 5, the Cosmos Hub blockchain network encountered a four-hour outage caused by a bug discovered during the implementation of the v17 upgrade. The Cosmos team identified the bug as a security vulnerability in the Liquid Staking Module (LSM). Although developers swiftly resolved the issue, block production on the network resumed only after a majority of validators had applied the patch. According to the Cosmos team:

"A fix for the bug has been issued by Informalinc and HyphaDoesCosmos. Currently, 55% of validators have implemented the patch. We urge remaining validators to apply the patch."

The network began producing blocks around 12:30 A.M. GMT, as reported by the official Cosmos X handle, with developers planning to release a detailed post-mortem report. Ethan Buchman, co-founder of Cosmos, acknowledged that downtime for the Hub is uncommon but inevitable:

"Occurrences like bugs and temporary shutdowns are part of network operations. The key is having dedicated developers and validators ready to resolve issues promptly."

The Cosmos Hub aims to facilitate a network of interconnected blockchains within the Cosmos Network, operating on a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism where participants stake ATOM coins to earn rewards. Despite the network disruption, the ATOM token remained stable at $8.65, reflecting a minimal impact from the incident.

The v17 upgrade was highly anticipated within the Cosmos ecosystem, receiving overwhelming support with over 136 million ATOM tokens, representing 99.8% of total votes. This upgrade introduces features aligned with the "partial set security" proposal, allowing new consumer chains to customize validator participation and operational parameters. Blockhunters, a web3 staking infrastructure provider, highlighted:

"The upgrade includes functionalities like voting power caps and opt-in choices for validators, marking a significant advancement with the introduction of ICS2.0."

Ethan Buchman also emphasized that v17 represents the largest upgrade in at least a year for Cosmos, enhancing its ecosystem capabilities significantly.