A number of major platforms 'crashed' at the same time — Coinbase, Robinhood, and Snapchat were all affected.
Many users around the world were unexpectedly unable to access familiar applications such as Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, Duolingo, Canva, or even Coinbase and Robinhood.
According to the tracking page Down Detector, these issues began to appear around 8 AM in the UK (which is midnight Pacific Time). The cause has been identified as Amazon Web Services (AWS) — the world's largest cloud computing system — experiencing problems.
AWS stated that it is experiencing "high error rates" and "unusual latency" across many services. Since AWS is the infrastructure platform that thousands of businesses rely on to operate their websites and applications, even a minor incident can create a domino effect, causing multiple platforms to go offline.
AWS currently plays a crucial role in today's Internet, with $108 billion in revenue last year — and is Amazon's main source of profit.
Among the platforms severely affected are two financial giants: Coinbase and Robinhood.
• Coinbase users report being unable to log in, wallets showing errors, or transactions being stuck.
• Robinhood has reported slow market data loading, mismatched trade orders, and the website occasionally "freezing."
Both companies have confirmed that the cause is due to an AWS infrastructure issue.
• Coinbase assures that user assets remain safe on the blockchain.
• Robinhood advises investors to avoid making large trades until the system is fully restored.
This incident highlights the enormous dependency of the global Internet on Amazon — just one "sneeze" from AWS can be enough to make the whole world "catch a cold."
Source: Independent