AWS outage disrupts crypto platforms, everyday apps for hours
On October 21, 2025, a big Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage took down major crypto platforms and everyday apps for several hours.
Caused by technical errors in AWS's US-EAST-1 region, the disruption showed just how much the digital world leans on a few cloud providers.
Outage affected several popular services
Users of Coinbase and Robinhood couldn't log in or trade, while OpenSea and MetaMask had trouble showing NFTs and wallet balances.
Even Ethereum Layer 2 networks like Polygon and Arbitrum struggled since they rely on services built on AWS.
Popular apps like Snapchat, Hulu, Venmo, and some UK banking services also faced outages.
How did it affect crypto services?
While core blockchains stayed online, many crypto services went down—highlighting the gap between the promise of decentralization and the reality of relying on centralized tech.
It's a reminder: even the most cutting-edge platforms can get tripped up by old-school infrastructure issues.