Users of the crypto exchange Gate.io are facing slow deposits and withdrawals on transactions due to a node maintenance from a third-party cloud provider, according to a Dec. 18 announcement. 

Gate.io said that transactions are still being processed and claimed that user funds are safe. The company stated:

"At this moment, we are monitoring the network connection status of our cloud service providers and will expedite the deposits and withdrawals as soon as the network connection is restored."

It is unclear if the delay in transactions is related to OKX's outage, which was caused by a hardware failure at a Hong Kong data center of its primary infrastructure provider, Alibaba Cloud. As reported by Cointelegraph, Alibaba's Cloud server went offline on Dec. 17 and failed to recover for over fifteen hours, during which users could not withdraw and deposit funds. 

While OKX trading services have resumed several hours later, while Gate.io users on Twitter are still experiencing problems with transactions.

Alibaba's Cloud services were interrupted a few days after the company announced it was developing its first Blockchain Node Service. Set for launch in the first quarter of 2023, the service aims to make it easier for organizations to build blockchain applications. 

According to Alibaba, the new platform-as-a-service solution will aid developers by reducing operational and maintenance time. The company claimed its infrastructure will allow node hosts to actively monitor nodes and automatically switch in case of an outage. "As it doesn’t require hands-on monitoring or problem mitigation, developers are free to concentrate on product development and thus speed up the pace of the product roll-out process.", Alibaba's said.

Alibaba Cloud is the digital technology backbone of Alibaba Group. Earlier this month, Avalanche blockchain partnered with Alibaba Cloud's Node-as-a-Service initiative, Cointelegraph reported.