The Solana ecosystem has been rapidly growing and developing. However, the fast pace of growth has introduced vulnerabilities. Solana has suffered several major outages in recent years. Recently, this happened to its preferred wallet. 

Phantom Wallet, the largest wallet on Solana, suffered a major outage due to a backend failure. Thousands of users were unable to access their funds and interact with the wallet app directly. 

Solana’s Phantom Wallet Outage

Phantom Wallet has seen a major disruption. On Monday, October 28, Phantom Wallet, Solana’s largest crypto wallet, suffered an incident affecting thousands of users. According to Phantom Wallet’s social media and multiple users, the wallet experienced downtime, with users unable to access their funds. 

The Phantom Wallet status page shows that a backend failure caused the wallet to become unresponsive. Users on X reported multiple issues with the wallet, including assets that disappeared temporarily, which caused concern among users. 

The Phantom Wallet team assured users that their assets were not at risk and that the unresponsive backend caused visibility issues. At the same time, the team claimed that they were working to resolve the issues and suggested workarounds, including using dApps where possible. 

What Caused the Phantom Wallet Outage? 

The Phantom Wallet outage coincided with a major event in the Solana ecosystem. It happened when users were claiming the Grass airdrop, an AI-driven project. 

Grass is a decentralized network where users can sell their unused bandwidth to train large language models (LLMs). However, the project drove mixed reactions, with some users voicing frustration over small token rewards and an opaque distribution process.

Still, the airdrop attracted significant attention from users. Airdrops, especially popular airdrops like Grass, contribute to large spikes in blockchain traffic. This surge in traffic could have contributed to the sudden backend overload that caused Phantom Wallet downtime. 

On the Flipside

In May, Phantom Wallet saw a major influx of new users thanks to a popular tap-to-earn app TapSwap. Users needed the Phantom Wallet to claim TapSwap rewards. 

The Phantom Wallet’s decentralization was questioned due to a failed backend. This is significant because Solana is itself being criticized for its perceived centralization. 

Why This Matters

For many Solana users, Phantom Wallet is essential for managing their portfolios and trades. Wallet outages can cause serious disruptions for users who rely on it.  

Source : DailyCoin - Oct 28, 2024