Helium Network shut down for about 4 hours due to validator outages from a software update, resulting in delayed transaction finality.
During the outage, devices transferring data over the network were not affected, but miner rewards and token transfers were left pending. The team resolved the issue by skipping the blockchain forward by one block and resuming normal functions.
The Consensus Group stopped producing blocks at block height 1435692 on the Helium blockchain, according to a status update. Lacking network consensus, token transfers could not be completed, and new blocks were not being produced.
Helium is an IoT network that uses physical radio hotspots to allow users to connect to their devices from anywhere there is radio coverage. On the Helium network, a Consensus Group consists of 43 validator nodes randomly chosen in fixed intervals to provide network consensus.
In the examination for the event, Helium engineers cited two reasons validators stopped creating consensus on the network.
First, an issue with a software update for validators contributed to the problem. The v1.12.3 update was designed to provide support for the 5G Mobile subnetwork and its MOBILE token. Additionally, a local network outage was also to blame.
The new block production started with block number 1435693. The team said it worked closely with validator operators to ensure they were synced correctly and released a new software update.
