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<a href="https://pricpr.com/data">Database</a> Error Takes Down 20% of Internet: Cloudflare Outage Disrupts Global Crypto Trading

The incident exposed how much of the internet depends on just a few infrastructure companies.

What Happened During the Outage

Around 11:20 AM UTC on November 18th, Cloudflare – a company that processes roughly 20% of all internet traffic – had a major outage. Its main systems were down for almost three hours.

The issue began at 11:05 UTC when Cloudflare was updating the security of its ClickHouse database. During this update, the database started creating duplicate entries in a file that helps protect against online bots. This caused the file to grow much larger than usual, which disrupted the system that manages internet traffic.

Cloudflare’s servers failed when attempting to process an unusually large file. This file had over 200 data points, far exceeding the system’s standard limit of 200 (typically around 60). This caused a widespread outage across Cloudflare’s entire network, impacting millions of websites that depend on their services for security, performance, and stability.

Visitors to several websites encountered “Error 500” messages instead of the usual content. The problem began with a faulty file, which engineers fixed by replacing it with a working copy at 14:30 UTC. Everything was back to normal by 17:06 UTC.

Crypto Industry Hit Hard by Infrastructure Failure

Several major cryptocurrency services experienced problems during the outage. Well-known exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken, and BitMEX were unavailable, and tools for tracking transactions, like Etherscan and Arbiscan, also went offline.

The outage happened at a difficult time for the crypto market. Bitcoin‘s price fell to $89,300, and Ethereum dropped below $3,000. Overall, the value of the entire cryptocurrency market decreased by 3%, reaching $3.12 trillion.

DeFi platforms also faced difficulties. Aave, a popular lending service, had temporary outages. DeFiLlama, a key source for tracking DeFi data, was completely unavailable. Even essential tools like blockchain explorers were down.

The recent disruption revealed a key issue with cryptocurrency. Even though crypto is based on decentralized technology, most platforms rely on traditional, centralized internet services. This means that when those services go down, even supposedly ‘decentralized’ systems can stop working.

Why This Outage Matters for Internet Resilience

The recent Cloudflare outage highlighted just how vulnerable the internet can be. A small number of companies – Cloudflare, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure – power a huge amount of online traffic. If any of these companies experience problems, significant parts of the internet can go down.

This wasn’t the first time recently that a large-scale disruption occurred. Amazon Web Services experienced a similar problem in October 2025, which impacted companies like Coinbase and Robinhood. These recurring issues highlight a worrying trend: too much of the internet relies on a few central points of failure.

Cloudflare runs data centers in 330 cities globally and links directly to 13,000 different networks. They offer services like defending against online attacks, speeding up website loading times, and managing website addresses. When Cloudflare’s systems went down, websites had trouble figuring out where to send visitors or how to manage the traffic coming in.

The disruption wasn’t limited to just cryptocurrency and social media. McDonald’s customers saw errors when trying to order, popular games like League of Legends became unavailable, and many companies and government websites also faced problems.

How Companies Can Protect Against Future Outages

Forward-thinking companies are actively working to avoid being overly reliant on any single technology provider. The best way to do this is by using a variety of different services instead of putting all their eggs in one basket.

Using multiple content delivery networks (CDNs) distributes website traffic across several different networks. This ensures that if one network goes down, traffic is automatically rerouted to others. Businesses can configure these backup systems to kick in within minutes, instead of waiting hours for recovery.

DNS diversification is an important way to improve security. Rather than relying on a single company to translate website names into addresses, businesses can use several different providers. This ensures that websites stay online even if one provider has issues.

When it comes to cryptocurrency, building on decentralized infrastructure is the most reliable approach for the future. Networks like Lava and Pocket work by spreading internet services across numerous independent providers. While this method can be more expensive and sometimes less stable, it avoids having one central point that could cause everything to fail.

More and more cryptocurrency projects are building their own independent systems, managing their own servers and internet connections, and completely avoiding big cloud service providers. While this is technically challenging, it makes them much more reliable and less likely to go offline.

What Crypto Companies Should Do Now

Recent disruptions have increased crypto companies’ focus on decentralized systems. Experts suggest taking these steps to address the issue:

To improve reliability, crypto exchanges should use multiple cloud providers. Instead of relying on just one, spreading important systems across different companies prevents complete outages if one provider experiences issues. While this strategy is more expensive, it guarantees trading can continue even during technical difficulties.

From my perspective, a smart move for companies is to invest in decentralized RPC networks. Instead of getting blockchain data from just one source, these networks spread requests across lots of independent nodes, making things much more reliable. I’m seeing projects like Ankr, Pocket Network, and Lava Network leading the way with these kinds of redundant systems.

Finally, crypto platforms must improve how they watch over their systems. Companies should keep track of what outside services they rely on and have a plan B for every important part of their setup. Regularly checking these backup plans ensures they’ll actually work when a problem occurs.

The Web3 industry needs to prioritize building completely independent infrastructure. Right now, many Web3 systems still depend on the traditional internet, which can be unreliable. While creating these alternatives requires effort and funding, recent internet disruptions clearly demonstrate why this investment is so important.

The Reality Check Web3 Needed

The recent Cloudflare outage highlighted a critical weakness in how the internet works. Even systems built to be spread out and resilient can be brought down if they rely on a few central points of control. For the cryptocurrency world, this event underscored that real decentralization means having control over *all* the technology involved, not just the blockchain itself.

Businesses that plan for potential system failures will be successful in the long run. Those that don’t address these risks will likely face ongoing problems when the next major disruption occurs.

2025-11-20 04:44