Privacy-focused Zcash blockchain has not produced a block for four hours

The privacy-focused Zcash network completely stopped creating new blocks for more than four hours on Wednesday, a rare and worrying pause for the system.

Think of the blockchain as a ledger that keeps growing as new transactions are added. Each “block” is a new entry in the ledger. So, when the network stops making new blocks, no new transactions can be confirmed. This is like the entire payment system freezing for several hours.

According to Zcash block explorers, the most recent block was number 3,364,601, created at 5:27 AM UTC on June 3. After that, no new blocks appeared for over four hours. Normally, Zcash adds a new block roughly every 75 seconds (just over a minute).

Zcash’s native token ZEC has surged 8% over the past week, according to CoinDesk data, bucking the broader market weakness. The token has gained 46% in the last month.

For crypto investors, this event is a reminder that even well-known cryptocurrencies can run into technical hiccups. Zcash has not made a public statement on the issue.