- AWS experienced a network outage in its Tokyo region, disrupting services for major crypto exchanges.
- Binance, KuCoin, and MEXC faced temporary outages.
- Binance halting withdrawals briefly before resuming.
- At least eight other platforms, including Coinstore and Gate.io, also reported issues due to AWS.
- The incident highlights the crypto industry’s reliance on centralized cloud services, sparking calls for decentralization.
AWS, Amazon Web Services, faced a connectivity issue in its Tokyo region, impacting at least 12 of its services. This outage, caused by power interruptions to certain EC2 instances, led to increased error rates and latencies. It was resolved quickly, within minutes, but not before it caused trouble for crypto platforms.
The Outage: Technical Details
The outage was caused by connectivity issues to a subset of EC2 instances in a single Availability Zone (apne1-as4) within the AP-Northeast-1 region, located in Tokyo, Japan. According to details from the AWS Health Dashboard, the issue stemmed from interrupted primary and secondary power, leading to increased error rates and latencies for instances launched in the affected zone and other AWS APIs using those EC2 instances.
AWS engineers engaged within minutes, resolving the issue by 1:51 a.m. PDT (08:51 GMT), and stated there was no expected recurrence. This rapid response minimized the duration, but the impact was already felt across dependent services.
Impact on Cryptocurrency Exchanges
The outage had a cascading effect on cryptocurrency platforms, given AWS’s 32% market share in the global cloud infrastructure market, as reported by Cloudscene in 2024 (Cloudscene Report). Here’s a detailed breakdown:
| Exchange/Wallet | Reported Issues | Recovery Status |
|---|---|---|
| Binance | Temporary network interruption, some orders failed, withdrawals suspended briefly | Services recovering, withdrawals resumed |
| KuCoin | Temporary disruptions due to large-scale AWS network outage | Technical team working on fix, recovery TBD |
| MEXC | Abnormal candlestick charts, failed order cancellations, asset transfer delays | Assets secure, recovery in progress |
| Others | AWS-related issues reported by Coinstore, Gate.io, DeBank, Rabby Wallet, Weex | Varies by platform |
Decentralization vs. Centralization
This incident reveals a critical paradox in the crypto industry: while blockchain technology is inherently decentralized, many platforms rely on centralized cloud providers like AWS for operational infrastructure.
The outage affected not only centralized exchanges (CEXs) but also some decentralized platforms that use AWS for certain services, raising questions about true decentralization.
The AWS outage, impacting 90% of crypto services according to Edmund Chua, demonstrates the risk of single points of failure. This aligns with historical incidents, such as the December 2021 AWS outage that disrupted dYdX, Coinbase, and Binance.US for 8-9 hours, as reported by Cryptonews.
Experts like Gracy Chen advocate for decentralized cloud solutions, but adoption remains limited. Platforms like Filecoin, Akash Network, and Render Network offer potential, but they are still in early stages and not yet widely integrated by major exchanges.
© Cryptopress. For informational purposes only, not offered as advice of any kind.
