The Sui blockchain returned to normal operations on Thursday after a network disruption that halted transaction processing for nearly six hours, according to official updates from the project. The outage, which began earlier in the day, marked another technical setback for the layer-1 network developed by Mysten Labs.
The issue first surfaced when Sui confirmed that its mainnet had stalled.
“Sui Mainnet is currently experiencing a network stall. The Sui Core team is actively working on a solution,” the project wrote on X. “Be aware that transactions may be paused at this time. Updates will be shared as soon as they are available.”
During the incident, users reported an inability to process transactions across the network. Activity remained paused for hours as engineers investigated the root cause. A later update on the network’s status page indicated that a fix had started rolling out to validators, though performance remained degraded even after partial restoration.
Bug in update triggers disruption
Sui later attributed the outage to a technical flaw introduced in a recent software release. The team confirmed that the disruption stemmed from “a halt due to a crash bug in the gas charging logic introduced by the 1.72 release.” The project added that a full incident review would follow in the coming days.
Activity on Sui mainnet has resumed after a halt due to a crash bug in the gas charging logic introduced by the 1.72 release. A full incident review will be shared in the coming days.
— Sui (@SuiNetwork) May 28, 2026
The outage lasted 5 hours and 55 minutes, based on the network’s own status indicator. While transactions resumed afterward, validators continued to show signs of reduced performance shortly after the fix deployment.
This event reflects a recurring pattern for the network. A similar outage in January kept the blockchain offline for more than six hours, as reported by HODLFM News. In November 2024, another issue caused validators to enter a crash loop for roughly two and a half hours, which also blocked transaction processing.
Market reaction and token movement
The disruption had an immediate effect on Sui’s native token. SUI dropped between 5% and 6.6% during the outage, reaching a low of around $0.90 before recovering slightly to approximately $0.92 by early Friday, according to data from CoinGecko.
Price movement came at a time when the broader crypto market showed mixed conditions. SUI’s decline exceeded losses recorded by major assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum over the same period.
The token has experienced wider volatility this year. It reached an all-time high of $5.35 in January 2025 but has since fallen by more than 80%. Earlier this month, however, SUI saw a short-term rebound, climbing 50% to $1.41 following announcements related to staking activity and upcoming features.
Growth ambitions meet reliability concerns
Launched in 2023, Sui positions itself as a high-performance blockchain designed to handle fast and low-cost transactions. The project competes with other layer-1 networks such as Ethereum and Solana, especially in sectors like decentralized finance and gaming.
The network currently ranks as the 13th-largest blockchain by total value locked, with $542 million across 137 protocols, according to DefiLlama data. Its ecosystem continues to expand despite repeated technical interruptions.
Earlier developments have also drawn attention from traditional finance. Exchange-traded products tied to the SUI token entered the market this year through firms such as Canary and Grayscale, offering exposure alongside staking rewards.
The project has also promoted upcoming features aimed at improving usability. These include zero-fee stablecoin transfers and private transaction functionality, as highlighted by Mysten Labs co-founder Adeniyi Abiodun during Consensus 2026.
Reliability remains under scrutiny
Network outages remain a critical issue for blockchain platforms that emphasize speed and scalability. Temporary halts in transaction processing raise concerns for developers and traders who depend on consistent uptime.
Sui’s latest disruption adds to a broader trend of operational challenges across high-performance blockchains. While some incidents result from external threats, others stem from internal software changes, as seen in this case.
Elsewhere in the sector, platforms such as Drift Protocol and Kelp have also faced disruptions this year, though those incidents involved cyberattacks rather than technical bugs.
Sui has stated that further updates will follow as its investigation continues. The forthcoming incident report may provide additional clarity on the failure and the steps required to prevent similar outages in future releases.
Gunel Ismayilova
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