--- title: "Oops! The AWS Outage Took Down Everybody’s Bored Apes" description: "A major AWS outage threw the cryptocurrency community into chaos on Monday, taking down everybody's Bored Apes NFTs." date: "2025-10-21" modified: "2025-10-21" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/aws-outage-bored-apes" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" - "NFTs" --- # Oops! The AWS Outage Took Down Everybody’s Bored Apes ![A major AWS outage threw the cryptocurrency community into chaos on Monday, taking down everybody's Bored Apes NFTs.]() *OpenSea via Bluesky* A [major outage on Amazon Web Services (AWS)](), the tech giant's cloud computing platform that supports vast swaths of the internet, threw the cryptocurrency community into chaos on Monday. The irony of communities that pride themselves on being decentralized being taken down by a centralized failure [wasn't lost on users on social media](). As [*Cointribune* reports](), entire crypto trading platforms were affected by the outage, causing service disruptions for hours. Even OpenSea, the biggest exchange of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), was hit hard. A [screenshot]() shared by podcaster and *Onion* social media editor June Sternbach shows broken images of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection on OpenSea. The images of unbothered-looking primates was once a highly coveted possession among the crypto-obsessed and [high-profile celebrities](), while being valued at [millions of dollars worth of Ethereum]() each. Since then, their value has [cratered](), [changing hands for around $30,000]() these days. "Cannot load image," a notice overlaying the apes reads. "This ERC-721 NFT is not accessible due to an ongoing Amazon Web Services outage." It was a painful faceplant, since NFTs are meant to be the unique manifestations of an image that are stored on a blockchain to represent ownership. "NFTs are amazing because you apparently 'own' them, but the AWS outage yesterday took out everyone's apes lol," Sternbach wrote in her post. "As you may have seen online, Amazon AWS is experiencing a severe & extended service degradation," OpenSea CTO Chris Maddern [tweeted]() on Monday. "Unfortunately, these AWS issues are ongoing, and we expect to continue to see issues for the next few hours." Apart from OpenSea, the leading US crypto exchange Coinbase, as well as trading platform Robinhood [also experienced connectivity issues]() due to the outage. "Most people think crypto means 'decentralization,'" one user [tweeted](). "But the truth is almost 90 percent of the entire crypto industry runs on one company: Amazon Web Services." "It’s cheap, fast, and easy which is why everyone uses it," the user explained. "That same convenience creates a massive single point of failure. When AWS breaks, the entire crypto world breaks with it." **More on the outage:** [*Amazon's AWS Goes Down, Takes Out "Half of the Internet"*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()