TON Network Halts Block Production Amid Frenzied DOGS Memecoin Trading

The Open Network (TON) has halted block production after a surge in trading activity for a new memecoin called DOGS, leading to the network’s inability to validate transactions for over three hours.

On August 28, the TON-based platform Tonk Inu reported that the network was experiencing an outage due to overwhelming market interest in the newly launched DOGS memecoin. As of 2:18 am UTC on the same day, the last approved transactions were in block 45341899, and no new blocks had been produced since, according to the TON tracker Tonscan.

Crypto exchange Bybit responded by suspending all deposits and withdrawals to TON, citing network instability.

Justin, a member of the TON Foundation, confirmed in an August 28 post that the outage resulted from a “network overload” caused by the high volume of DOGS transactions. Validators had become overwhelmed, losing consensus, and Justin indicated that a restart of consensus was planned for 4:00 UTC. Attempts to reach TON for comment were unsuccessful.

DOGS, launched on TON on August 27, saw a trading volume of $1.7 billion within its first 10 hours and hit a peak market capitalization of $891 million. The token, which is already listed on major exchanges like Binance and OKX, reached a high of $0.0018 but has since dropped to approximately $0.0013.

This latest memecoin follows TON Society’s recent rebranding on August 26, intended to show support for Telegram creator Pavel Durov, who was recently detained in France. TON Society has updated Toncoin’s logo to feature the “Resistance Dog,” a symbol of digital resistance and free speech inspired by Durov’s defiance against censorship in 2011. The group also launched an “Open Letter Mini App” on Telegram, calling for Durov’s release and garnering 1.48 million signatures as of the time of writing.