The XRP Ledger continued to close blocks as usual during the AWS outage, highlighting its resiliency.
The failure exposed vulnerabilities in centralized cloud infrastructure, impacting platforms such as Coinbase.
XRPL’s decentralized validator network and initiatives like XLS 50 ensure continuity of operations even in the event of cloud failure.
Early Monday morning, a major AWS outage occurred in the US-EAST-1 region, disrupting service across the Internet. Popular platforms like ChatGPT, Reddit, Fortnite, Coinbase, and even Amazon itself faced downtime.
Still, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) continues to close blocks as usual, and the cryptocurrency community is noticing.
AWS outage disrupts millions of people
Reported by AWS “Increasing error rates and latency for multiple AWS services” It begins at 3:11 a.m. ET. This issue is related to a DNS resolution issue in the DynamoDB API and has spread to other services. AWS began restoration by 5:27 a.m. ET, but expected it would take some time for some services to stabilize due to backlogs.
For businesses that rely on cloud infrastructure, this incident is a stark reminder that a single outage can impact millions of users and thousands of services. Convenience comes at a price.
Read more: China’s cyberattack claims, AWS outage rocks internet – cross-platform Coinbase hits
Coinbase, a virtual currency exchange operated on AWS, was also temporarily affected. Users faced login issues and transaction delays until the company confirmed that “all funds were safe.” Coinbase has since announced that the system has stabilized and the service is coming back online.
Update: Some users are now able to access and use Coinbase services, showing early signs of recovery.
Our team continues to make this issue a top priority. We will continue to provide the latest information as the situation changes.
— Coinbase Support (@CoinbaseSupport) October 20, 2025
XRPL: An unstoppable network
Amidst the turmoil, XRPL’s performance stood out. Cryptocurrency commentator @Vet_X0 tweeted:
“Despite the issues with AWS, the XRP Ledger is successfully closing blocks. This is a tough job of decentralization, especially when it comes to geography and hosting. We believe we can do much better and be more resilient, but XLS 50 is critical to this transparency to drive action.”
Unlike other platforms that are tightly integrated with AWS, XRPL validators are spread across multiple cloud providers and physical locations. This distribution protects the network from outages of a single provider.
Historical data supports this. Even the February 2025 suspension was quickly resolved.
How does XRPL stay strong even when other companies stall?
This failure highlights why XRPL’s validator network is built this way. Too many validators on one cloud provider risks consensus stalling. XLS 50 encourages transparency and better practices. Validators now take into account the diversity of physical locations, networks (ASNs), and cloud providers.
While much of the internet was on pause, XRPL moved forward.
What the crypto industry can learn
For cryptocurrency platforms and investors, XRPL is a lesson in resilience. Centralized cloud services are convenient, but they are also vulnerable. The structure of XRPL proves that careful network design and deployment can prevent large-scale outages.
In a world where one cloud outage can ripple to millions of users, the XRP Ledger is setting the standard. Decentralized networks can and do work better.
