Emre Yumlu 
A major network outage on Amazon Web Services (AWS) caused disruptions in services on leading cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, KuCoin, and MEXC. As one of the core infrastructures of the crypto ecosystem, AWS once again revealed the fragility of centralized systems with this incident.
Access Issues Experienced on Multiple Exchanges
On the morning of April 15, “connectivity issues” occurred at an AWS data center, affecting at least 12 different services of the company. This led to temporary interruptions on centralized crypto exchanges that rely on AWS.
One of the first statements came from Binance. The company announced: “A temporary network outage at the AWS data center has caused issues affecting some services on our platform.” It was stated that while some orders were successfully processed, others failed. Binance noted that it swiftly collaborated with AWS and restored most services in a short time.
Other major platforms such as KuCoin and MEXC made similar announcements confirming temporary disruptions on their platforms. On MEXC, users particularly faced chart display errors, order cancellation problems, and delays in asset transfers on the mobile app and web platform. However, the exchange emphasized that user assets remain fully secure.
By the morning, at least eight platforms, including Coinstore, Gate.io, DeBank, Rabby Wallet, and Weex, reported AWS-related issues.
How Centralized Infrastructure Threatens the Crypto World
AWS provides a cloud infrastructure that enables crypto exchanges to handle high transaction volumes with low latency. However, this incident demonstrated that reliance on a single centralized service provider can trigger chain reactions across the system.
Such disruptions suggest that dependence on centralized infrastructure may pose a potential risk for the crypto market. According to some experts, this situation shows that decentralized alternatives need to be taken more seriously.
A New Alternative: Decentralized Cloud Services
Comments from prominent figures in the industry highlight the limits of centralized infrastructure. For instance, Edmund Chua, a DeFi protocol executive, emphasized the seriousness of the situation by saying, “AWS is down and 90% of crypto is affected. Is decentralization just a meme?”
Decentralized solutions like Filecoin for storage, Akash Network for distributed computing power, and Render Network for GPU-based services are among the key alternatives in this space.
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