Several prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin, and MEXC, reported service disruptions earlier today due to a significant network interruption affecting Amazon Web Services (AWS). The outage at an AWS data center caused “connectivity issues” impacting at least a dozen of the cloud provider’s services, highlighting the reliance of major crypto platforms on centralized infrastructure.
Binance was among the first to acknowledge the issue, stating in a social media post that users were experiencing failures with some orders due to a “temporary network interruption in the AWS data center.” While some transactions continued to process, others failed, prompting the exchange to advise users to retry failed attempts. A Binance spokesperson later confirmed to Cointelegraph that services, including user withdrawals, had been restored following swift collaboration with AWS.
Other major exchanges also reported problems. KuCoin informed its users of temporary disruptions due to the “large-scale network outage with AWS services.” Similarly, MEXC alerted users to issues such as abnormal candlestick charts, failed order cancellations, and delays in asset transfers on both its mobile application and web platform. MEXC assured users that their assets remained secure.
By mid-morning UTC, at least eight cryptocurrency platforms had reported AWS-related issues, including Coinstore, Gate.io, DeBank, Rabby Wallet, and Weex.
AWS, a dominant cloud infrastructure provider, powers the high-throughput trading systems of numerous centralized cryptocurrency exchanges (CEXs), including Coinbase, Crypto.com, Huobi, BitMEX, and Kraken. This reliance on a central provider has raised concerns about the potential for single points of failure to cause widespread disruptions within the crypto ecosystem.
In an update, AWS acknowledged the “connectivity issues” and reported “initial signs of recovery,” stating they were actively working towards full restoration of services.
The incident has reignited discussions about the vulnerability of centralized infrastructure in the cryptocurrency space and the potential need for more decentralized alternatives. Edmund Chua, head of mETH Protocol, commented on social media, suggesting that the widespread impact indicated that “decentralization is a meme.”
Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget exchange, acknowledged the impact but urged against panic, stating it served as a “solid reminder” to explore decentralized cloud services. Alternatives such as Filecoin for storage, Akash Network for decentralized computing, and Render Network for decentralized GPU compute were cited as potential solutions to mitigate the risks associated with reliance on single, centralized providers like AWS.
