The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has recovered from an unexpected network halt that disrupted its ability to publish validations for over an hour. 

Ripple's Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, confirmed the issue and stated that the blockchain resumed operations on Feb. 4 at 10:58 am UTC, following a freeze that lasted 64 minutes at block height 93,927,174.

According to Schwartz, the exact cause of the disruption remains unclear, but initial observations suggest that while the network's consensus mechanism was active, it failed to publish validations. 

This led to a state where different parts of the network drifted apart, preventing the system from progressing as expected. Validator operators took manual action to stabilize the network by identifying the last fully validated ledger and resuming validation from that point.

Schwartz noted that this intervention did not require extensive coordination among validators but benefited from multiple operators reviewing the situation. Once servers detected consistent validations from different sources, the network was able to regain consensus and resume normal operations.

Despite the intervention of some validator operators, Schwartz indicated that the network may have spontaneously recovered without widespread manual adjustments. He later clarified that only one validator operator appeared to have taken action, though it remains uncertain whether this directly resolved the issue or if the network self-corrected.

While the XRP Ledger has now resumed normal operations, Ripple’s technical team continues to investigate the root cause of the failure to prevent similar incidents in the future.