Share this article
Privacy Cryptocurrency Beam Experiences Blockchain Stoppage
Privacy-oriented cryptocurrency Beam said Monday morning that its blockchain had stopped. A fix has now been committed, it says [updated].
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 8:49 a.m. Published Jan 21, 2019, 1:45 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Update 2 (09:10 UTC, Jan. 22 2019): Beam has now published a post-mortem of the blockchain failure, saying: "The root cause of the issue was that two cloned wallets (most likely created by copying the same wallet.db file) both sent the same cloned UTXO to the blockchain, which resulted in incorrect cut-through processing and ultimately to an invalid block."
While it had no blocks produced from roughly 09:00 UTC to 11:40 UTC, no funds were lost and "blocks are processed normally and hashrate returned to similar levels as before the incident."
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Update (14:04 UTC, Jan. 21 2019): Beam has now announced: "The fix was commited on Github. We will be performing additional testing. We will release the binaries in the coming hours. Thanks for your patience."
Its GitHub page puts the error down to a bug involving "improper block generation upon cut-through of old-new UTXOs."
---
Newly released privacy-oriented cryptocurrency Beam reported this morning that its blockchain is experiencing technical difficulties.
Beam announced the information on its official Twitter account Monday, saying that its network "stopped at block 25709” and that it was investigating the matter.
Within the last hour, the project tweeted an update saying:
"Issue identified and fix found. Funds are safe. Commit to GitHub in the coming hour. Binaries and detailed Post-mortem later today. Thanks for your patience and stay tuned."
At its January launch, Beam became the first cryptocurrency based on Mimblewimble – a protocol that makes transactions confidential and virtually untraceable.
Since then, though, Beam has faced some technical issues. On Jan. 9, the team discovered a “critical vulnerability” in its wallet software and asked users to uninstall the wallet app immediately and re-download a patched version from their website.
While the critical bug was fixed, it could have put users’ funds at risk by allowing attackers to modify transactions and subsequently send funds directly into their own wallet, Beam’s developers said at the time.
Last week, a second privacy cryptocurrency based on Mimblewimble – Grin – also went live. While it has seen high interest from cypherpunks, sources told CoinDesk at the time that several VC funds were planning to mine the crypto.
Broken chain image via Shutterstock
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Crypto ETFs with staking can supercharge returns but they may not be for everyone
From yield potential to custody risks, here’s how direct ETH and staking funds compare for different investor goals.
What to know:
- Investors can now choose between owning ether directly or buying shares in a staking ETF that earns rewards on their behalf.
- While staking ETFs offers yield, they come with risks and less control than holding ETH in an exchange or wallet.
- Grayscale’s Ethereum staking ETF recently paid $0.083178 per share, yielding $3.16 in rewards on a $1,000 investment.
Top Stories
