A transaction spamming attack has disrupted operations on the Nano network. After node operators reduced their bandwidth to deal with the issue, the network is out of sync and transactions are obstructed, according to social media and Discord reports.
NANO is a cryptocurrency which uses so-called direct acyclic graphs (DAG), not blockchain, to settle transactions across the network. Unlike a blockchain, which includes one unified and continuous transaction history, Nano’s DAG ledger consists of multiple branches of separate transactions.
The coin’s design guarantees very low transaction fees. But as evidenced by this attack, this comes at the cost of spam resistance.
In Nano’s Discord this morning, users complained about unconfirmed transactions and out-of-sync block explorers.
“I’ve [sent] some nano this morning. Nault [wallet] reports it as sent. Destination hasn’t confirmed it yet. ‘While the account address is valid, no blocks have been published to its chain yet. If NANO has been sent to this account, it still needs to publish a corresponding block to pocket the funds.’ What does this mean? Normally it shows up within minutes,” one user asked Nano’s Discord support channel.
Another, who runs two separate Nano nodes, noted a discrepancy in network data.
Per an unverified Reddit post, the trouble began when Nano’s network was flooded with near-zero value transactions. In response to this, Nano’s creator, Colin LeMahieu, told node operators to lower their bandwidths to accept fewer incoming transactions.
This has resulted in effectively stymying the network, one Nano user hanzyfranzy suggests in the post:
“So yes, the network is globally down right now. Probably unlikely to change until node operators change their configs. Some transactions are getting through, but it’s a small trickle.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.