Crypto World Calm Amid Tech Outages

The crypto world is calm amid tech outages, as the decentralized nature of blockchains has allowed them to continue operating.

On July 19, crypto community members expressed a sense of triumph on social media as blockchain networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum continued to operate during one of the most significant information technology disruptions in history.

Users were still permitted to conduct transactions on blockchain and cryptocurrency networks despite the closure of numerous healthcare providers, airlines, courts of law, and other critical social services.

Jeff Garzik, a former developer of the Linux kernel and Bitcoin Core, observed the stark contrast between the consistent operation of blockchains and the pervasive outages experienced by centralized services. In a post on social media platform X, he declared, “Global IT outage: Linux, Bitcoin, and Ethereum unaffected.”

Jameson Lopp, the co-founder of Casa, a Bitcoin multi-signature wallet service, also commented on the news. “The current global infrastructure outages are a stark illustration of why Bitcoin node software does not automatically update,” Lopp stated, adding that “Auto-updates introduce systemic risk.”

A pro-crypto Senator, Cynthia Lummis, observed that blockchains were still operational. “Do you know which form of currency has not been impacted by widespread cyber outages?” she rhetorically inquired. “Bitcoin.”

Lummis concluded her post with the Latin phrase “Vires in Numeris,” which translates to “Strength in Numbers.” This phrase refers to the thousands of validator nodes that verify Bitcoin transactions.

Certain community members attributed The outage to the Windows operating system and asserted that blockchains are known for their ability to operate on various operating systems.

The developer of the Bitcoin wallet Cashu, Dr. Calle, reminded users that Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, had initially opposed the development of a Linux client.

“He quoted Satoshi as saying, ‘While it’s tempting to do a Linux port […], auto-run might give us 300% more nodes while Linux might give us 3% more.'” Peter Todd, the developer of Bitcoin Core, responded to Calle’s post by asserting that “Satoshi was simply incorrect on this matter.” The larger market consisted of Linux-using enthusiasts.

The Bitcoin Researcher, the developer of the analytics platform Bitcoin Lab, also addressed the post, asserting that Linux “continues to play a critical role in maintaining the resilience and strength of the #Bitcoin network” and that “Bitcoin running exclusively on Windows/Mac would have a single point of failure.”

The Bitcoin software was initially published for Windows in January 2009; however, a Linux version was released later that year.

According to a Forbes report, the outage resulted from a defective automatic update distributed to all devices running CrowdStrike for Windows. CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity program that endeavors to identify and prevent exploits against IT systems. The update did not affect the Mac and Linux versions of CrowdStrike.

George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, stated on July 19 that the company is trying to resolve the issue and restore businesses to the internet.