Summary
The glamsterdam-devnet-3 chain has not finalized since epoch 492 (approximately
60 hours ago). The chain continues producing blocks, but validator participation
has dropped below the 2/3 threshold required for finality.
Direct Evidence from Official RPC
eth_getBlockByNumber("finalized")
→ error -32000: "finalized block not found"
eth_getBlockByNumber("safe")
→ block #12844, 2026-05-08 20:17 UTC (60+ hours ago)
eth_getBlockByNumber("latest")
→ block #22034, ~40s ago (chain is actively producing blocks)
The error originates from the official backend (rpc-prysm-geth-1) itself,
confirming this is a network-wide issue rather than a misconfiguration on
any individual node.
Beacon Chain Data
| Field |
Value |
| Last finalized epoch |
492 (slot ~15744) |
| Current justified epoch |
493 (not advancing to finalized) |
| Current head slot |
~33,940 (epoch ~1,060) |
| Non-finalized gap |
~18,200 slots (~60 hours) |
Block production over last 100 slots sampled:
- Produced: 57 / 100
- Missed: 43 / 100
- Unique proposers seen: 56
With 2,200 active validators, finality requires ≥ 1,467 (2/3) to participate.
A ~43% missed-block rate indicates participation has fallen below that threshold.
Impact on Externally Joining Nodes
Nodes joining via --checkpoint-sync-url anchor at slot 15744 (the last finalized
slot) and must range-sync 18,000+ non-finalized slots to reach the current head.
The blocks themselves are available (verified via beacon API — HTTP 200 for slots
across the non-finalized range). However, because the finalized checkpoint has not
advanced for 60+ hours, discv5 peer discovery and connection stability are degraded
for newly joining nodes, making it difficult to maintain enough peers to complete
the range sync.
Questions
- Is the validator dropout known? Is there a plan to bring validators back online?
- Will devnet-3 be repaired, or is a devnet-4 planned?
- Is there a recommended workaround for external nodes trying to sync to the
current non-finalized head?
Summary
The glamsterdam-devnet-3 chain has not finalized since epoch 492 (approximately
60 hours ago). The chain continues producing blocks, but validator participation
has dropped below the 2/3 threshold required for finality.
Direct Evidence from Official RPC
The error originates from the official backend (
rpc-prysm-geth-1) itself,confirming this is a network-wide issue rather than a misconfiguration on
any individual node.
Beacon Chain Data
Block production over last 100 slots sampled:
With 2,200 active validators, finality requires ≥ 1,467 (2/3) to participate.
A ~43% missed-block rate indicates participation has fallen below that threshold.
Impact on Externally Joining Nodes
Nodes joining via
--checkpoint-sync-urlanchor at slot 15744 (the last finalizedslot) and must range-sync 18,000+ non-finalized slots to reach the current head.
The blocks themselves are available (verified via beacon API — HTTP 200 for slots
across the non-finalized range). However, because the finalized checkpoint has not
advanced for 60+ hours, discv5 peer discovery and connection stability are degraded
for newly joining nodes, making it difficult to maintain enough peers to complete
the range sync.
Questions
current non-finalized head?