AWS Outage Highlights Centralised Risks for Cryptocurrency Exchanges

An AWS outage on April 15, 2025, halted trading activities on major crypto exchanges, highlighting the risks of centralised infrastructure in a decentralised market. Previously affected by similar outages, AWS faced criticism as users struggled with failed transactions. The incident raises critical questions about financial resilience in the face of infrastructural reliance on centralised systems, despite the crypto sector’s commitment to decentralisation.

On April 15, 2025, a power outage at an Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centre disrupted operations across major cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, KuCoin, and MEXC, affecting the $45 billion daily crypto market. Lasting from 12:40 A.M. to 1:43 A.M. PDT, this incident exposed vulnerabilities within CI (centralised infrastructure), serving as a reminder for an industry that promotes decentralisation.