A failure on Arbitrum – The second layer solutions continue to attract new users. However, these are still highly centralized which can cause problems. This was the case for Arbitrationof which the Sequencer experienced a disruption.
Arbitrum: unexpected interruption of the Sequencer
THE Sequence is a central part of the Arbitrum infrastructure. In fact, this has mission to collect user transactions. Then he creates a batch of transactions and publishes it to the Ethereum chain.
This mechanism is vital to Arbitrum. Indeed, it allows the network to publish the proofs as well as the data necessary to validate these on-chain proofs.
On June 7, Arbitrum disclosed that a bug in the “batch poster” system prevented posting batches of transactions on the chain.
“Earlier today, there was a disruption in the Sequencer batch release system which resulted in the batches not being released. »
First, the developers have considered that the Sequencer lacked funds to post the transaction. A hypothesis that will be denied later.
In practice, when the Sequencer tried to publish its transaction, a bug affecting the latter systematically canceled the transaction.
This caused a temporary pause in finalizing on-chain transaction scheduling. However, the Sequencer’s service was not disrupted.
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Arbitrum Infrastructure Funding Facility
This Sequencer failure is the perfect time to recall Arbitrum’s funding mechanisms. Indeed, the various smart contracts that make up the Arbitrum infrastructure need funds to carry out their transactions.
To do this, Arbitrum has a well-defined funding mechanism that includes two portfolios:
- THE Sequencer wallet ;
- THE gas-refunder portfolio.
On the one hand, the Sequencer wallet, which publishes transactions to the chain, has a relatively low ETH balance that is automatically topped up.
On the other hand, the gas-refunder wallet is a second smart contract that holds a high ETH balance.
The latter automatically reloads the Sequencer wallet only if it releases successful batches. So, if the Sequencer fails to publish batches successfully due to a malfunction, he cannot deplete the high ETH balance of the gas-refunder.
Following this interruption, the Sequencer spent the ~5 ETH which he owned, but the gas-refunderer (who held ~250 ETH) didn’t top it up until he successfully released a batch.
Therefore, the bug of the Sequencer will have cost the network $8,500. Fortunately, the security mechanisms concerning the financing of the wallets have been triggered. Indeed, the situation could have taken a completely different turn, if the gas-refunder wallet had bailed out the Sequencer wallet with each error.
The bug has since been resolved, and the system is now able to publish batches again.
For its part, Optimism, one of Arbitrum’s main competitors, is getting a makeover. In effect, the protocol has rolled out its Bedrock update to the mainnet. This notably introduces a 40% reduction in transaction costs.
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