The whole story of MegaETH's "slip of the hand": Multiple signings 34 minutes early disrupted a $1 billion plan.

Original article | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Author | Ethan ( @ethanzhang_web3 )

For MegaETH, which once had Vitalik Buterin's endorsement and touted "100k TPS" and "sub-millisecond latency," last night's pre-deposit launch was undoubtedly a disastrous stress test.

In just a few hours, the community experienced the entire "drama" of website downtime, instant depletion of credit limits, unexpected execution of multi-signature agreements, and fluctuating credit limits. This turmoil, a mix of technical glitches and human error, ultimately ended with the forced locking of $500 million in deposits.

Circuit Breaker Triggered Immediately: Logical Flaws Behind Error Pop-ups

The story begins on the evening of November 25th. As planned , the USDm pre-deposit channel was supposed to open at 10 PM Beijing time, with an initial limit of $250 million. However, the surge in volume was more intense and chaotic than anticipated.

At startup, users waiting in front of the screen did not experience the smooth experience they had anticipated. Most were faced with a black screen displaying only the word "Data," with a cold pink error message at the bottom: "THERE IS AN ERROR. PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER." There was no explanation, no queue indication, only an unsettling uncertainty.

In a post-mortem analysis, the MegaETH team admitted that this was not a simple traffic overload, but a typical "double backend incident".

First, there was a fatal configuration error—a SaleUUID mismatch. The parameters written in the pre-deposit contract were inconsistent with the Sonar system responsible for KYC verification, causing all deposit requests to be rejected directly on-chain. Correcting this parameter wasn't as simple as changing a line of code, as the contract was controlled by Safe multi-signature (4/6). This meant that in a time-sensitive situation, the team had to urgently coordinate on-chain interactions among the four signers, directly extending the downtime.

To make matters worse, the third-party service provider Echo (Sonar), responsible for verification, also encountered a problem. Due to an insufficiently configured rate limit, a flood of genuine user traffic was misjudged and blocked by the system. According to official sources, it took a full 23 minutes from discovering the problem to deploying a fix.

With the two major obstacles of UUID correction and rate limiting finally cleared, the system resumed automatic operation. The pent-up FOMO sentiment was instantly released, and the initial $250 million quota was snapped up in just 156 seconds .

Multiple signatures "accidentally": an unexpected event 34 minutes early.

If the initial congestion was just "standard practice" for Web3, then the subsequent expansion episode was a completely man-made "black humor."

After the initial allocation sold out instantly, in response to the overwhelming enthusiasm from the community, the MegaETH team decided to temporarily adjust its strategy , planning to significantly increase the limit to $1 billion to ensure more users could access USDm on the first day of mainnet launch. To implement this increase, the project initiated a multi-signature transaction involving the Safe address (0xCB...719) .

However, in a dramatic turn of events, on-chain data showed that the fourth signer (@chud_eth) unexpectedly executed the transaction 34 minutes before the scheduled start time. This was not just a simple "slip of the hand"; it directly caused the deposit channel to be prematurely opened without any warning.

Funds flooded in again, completely disrupting the official response. The team frantically tried to salvage the situation: initially attempting to limit the amount to $400 million as a trial, but it was too late; ultimately, they had to forcibly cap the limit at $500 million. Even so, the additional quota was filled instantly.

This dramatic back-and-forth quickly triggered a strong crisis of trust within the community. Disappointment and ridicule were intertwined, with some bluntly stating that this chaotic experience was "like visiting a poorly managed casino," while other developers pointed out sharply that such basic engineering negligence was deeply disturbing for an infrastructure project envisioned for expansion.

Faced with overwhelming criticism, the MegaETH team quickly released a lengthy statement recounting the situation . While acknowledging their mistakes, they repeatedly emphasized their core principles: all contract code has been audited and is secure, posing no risk to funds. To appease public sentiment, the team also promised that users who successfully participated in the pre-deposit program will receive priority in future reward events.

The dust has settled: KYC issues forced the $1 billion plan to fall through.

After a night of turmoil, in the early hours of November 26, the MegaETH team finally settled the matter: officially abandoning the original $1 billion expansion plan and locking the total pre-deposit amount at $500 million.

The sudden halt wasn't solely to quell public opinion, but rather stemmed from technical constraints. According to official disclosures, unresolved bugs still exist in the KYC verification process, preventing some compliant users from participating. Forcibly opening the floodgates to $1 billion before clearing these obstacles is clearly unwise.

Regarding the "stay or leave" issue that existing users are most concerned about, the team has provided a pragmatic solution. The official statement acknowledges that the experience was "unacceptable," especially for early users who entered based on expectations of a "$250 million hard cap," as the unexpected doubling of the limit objectively diluted their share and rights. To rectify this "default on expectations ," the team promises to launch a withdrawal page in the coming days, giving users the choice.

Despite criticisms from many that the execution process was a "makeshift operation," the sheer volume of money speaks for itself—following last month's MEGA token sale of over $1.39 billion, this $500 million "sold out in seconds" once again confirms the market's high expectations for MegaETH.

However, this incident also serves as a wake-up call for all Web3 projects that were born with a silver spoon in their mouths: the endorsement of Vitalik Buterin and Joe Lubin can determine how high your ceiling is, but the most basic engineering execution ability determines how far you can actually fly.