You've probably noticed problems loading steemit.com today. Your favorite social network is down due to a DDoS attack. Not funny. This is going on for a couple of hours now. The Steemit.com team is working hard to mitigate the attack, but it is unsure how long it will take.
See also: Steemit.com is experiencing a DDoS attack posted by
But I thought Steemit is decentralized, how can it go down?
That's right. Steemit.com is a social media platform, which runs on top of a decentralized blockchain we call Steem. This means the whole database of the social network (all the posts, votes, accounts and much more data including your Steem wallet) are not stored on a single server, but is distributed among many computers. All data is stored in blocks in the blockchain which is safely managed and maintained by the Steem witnesses. Each Steem witness manages a copy of the whole database (the Steem blockchain).
To put it short, there's an important difference between the website Steemit.com and the blockchain known as Steem.
Steemit.com uses the Steem blockchain and the website is down due to the DDoS attack. But the witnesses who are keeping the Steem blockchain safe and secure do not have any problems. Even if a few of them would go down it would still be no problem. There are many other Steem witnesses who want to take over their job with pleasure.
Fortunately there are a couple of other websites available that use the Steem blockchain as well. These websites have no issues because there is no problem with the blockchain. The Steem blockchain is running smoothly :)
While Steemit.com is down, you can use Busy.org, ChainBB.com or the eSteem app.
On my website SteemNow.com I have added an option to select a node this week. The node steemd.steemit.com is probably not working right now, but the others nodes are ready to serve you :)
So do not believe the rumors you might have read. The Steem blockchain has no problems and your account and STEEM wallet are both safe!