Ripple’s XRP Ledger experienced a brief but significant outage on February 5, 2025, causing a 64-minute disruption in network operations. The temporary shutdown caused some concerns among users and impacted the price of XRP, leading to a slight dip in market sentiment.
The Cause of the Outage
Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, revealed that the outage was caused by a “network drift.” This phenomenon occurred when the validations, or block productions, failed to be published, despite the network running its consensus process. This failure halted the smooth flow of transactions on the network for more than an hour.
Schwartz mentioned that only one validator seemed to intervene manually to restore operations. However, it remained unclear whether the issue was resolved through this intervention or if the network “self-healed.” By “self-healing,” Schwartz referred to XRP Ledger’s ability to recover by having more than half of the validators come to an agreement on the next block, allowing the network to continue seamlessly.
Impact on XRP Ledger Services
The outage temporarily affected wallet services on the XRP Ledger. For instance, Xaman Wallet, a popular wallet for XRP users, experienced transaction failures during this time. However, Schwartz assured users that no assets were lost due to the disruption, even though the transactions failed to process correctly.
Despite the technical glitch, XRP remained largely unaffected in terms of lost funds, though some users raised concerns about the network’s overall reliability.
Market Reaction to the Outage
Following the 64-minute downtime, XRP’s price saw a brief decline of around 6% during US trading hours on February 4. The asset struggled to maintain its position above the $2.50 level, dipping below important moving averages on longer time frames. This downturn contributed to a broader bearish sentiment in the market, which was further compounded by the weak overall crypto market trend at the time.
Some analysts criticized the XRP network’s performance, with figures like MartyParty questioning the blockchain’s throughput. MartyParty pointed out that XRP can only handle a maximum of 20 transactions per second (tps), suggesting that such a low throughput might hinder the network’s ability to scale and compete with other blockchain solutions. These concerns added to the pressure on XRP’s market performance, although the asset did not face any fundamental issues, such as asset loss.
XRP’s Struggles Amid Broader Market Sentiment
The disruption also occurred at a time when Bitcoin (BTC) was facing resistance around the $100K level and experienced a price pullback. This rejection at a key resistance point also affected the broader cryptocurrency market, putting additional pressure on altcoins like XRP.
At the time of writing, XRP’s price remained below key moving averages, reinforcing the short-term bearish outlook for the asset. Market participants are awaiting further developments, particularly in light of upcoming events such as the US Jobs report on February 7, which could influence broader market sentiment.
Despite the technical hiccup and market turbulence, Ripple’s quick response to restore the XRP Ledger is notable. However, as the network strives for long-term scalability and efficiency, addressing concerns regarding its throughput will be key to maintaining investor confidence and market support.
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