Open Ethereum Clients Encounter ‘Consensus Error’ After Berlin Hard Fork; Coinbase Pauses ETH Withdrawals

A consensus issue with the Open Ethereum client disrupted block production a few hours after today’s Berlin hard fork. The Open Ethereum team fixed the flaw some hours after it arose.

An open GitHub issue for the software version states there was a “node issue after Berlin hard fork, not [sic] sync after block 12244294.” The GitHub page’s comments include numerous Open Ethereum users whose nodes were knocked out of sync by the bug.

The Open Ethereum software version supports 12% of nodes on the Ethereum network.

Notably, the bug did not affect nodes running Ethereum’s most used client, Go Ethereum.

Coinbase pauses ETH withdrawals

Seemingly in response to the issue, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has disabled ETH and ERC-20 withdrawals, according to a tweet.

A Coinbase Support alert called “Ethereum Berlin Network Upgrade” noted that withdrawals were halted from both Coinbase and Coinbase Pro. Other services that relied on Open Ethereum like the Ethereum block explorer Etherscan and custodian BitGo were also affected by the bug.

Coinbase, the largest U.S. exchange, went public yesterday through a direct listing on Nasdaq.

Nate DiCamillo contributed reporting. This is a developing story and will be updated.

Updated April 15, 2021, 15:49 UTC: This article was updated to reflect that the Open Ethereum team has patched the consensus issue.