diff --git a/landing/src/components/LiveStats.vue b/landing/src/components/LiveStats.vue
index 3d4b12e..43fae6d 100644
--- a/landing/src/components/LiveStats.vue
+++ b/landing/src/components/LiveStats.vue
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <template>
-  <div v-if="!error && stats" class="live-stats">
+  <div v-if="stats" class="live-stats">
     <div class="live-header">
       <span class="live-dot" :class="{ 'live-dot-error': error }"></span>
       <span class="live-text">Live</span>
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
     </div>
     <div class="freshness">{{ error ? 'Connection lost' : `Updated ${secondsSinceUpdate}s ago` }}</div>
   </div>
-  <div v-else-if="!error && !stats" class="live-stats">
+  <div v-else-if="!error" class="live-stats">
     <div class="stats-grid">
       <div class="stat-item skeleton" v-for="i in 6" :key="i">
         <div class="stat-label skeleton-text"></div>
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@
       </div>
     </div>
   </div>
+  <div v-else class="live-stats live-stats-error" data-testid="livestats-error">
+    <p class="error-message">Protocol data unavailable</p>
+  </div>
 </template>
 
 <script setup lang="ts">
@@ -88,6 +91,8 @@ const changedStats = ref<Set<string>>(new Set());
 const secondsSinceUpdate = ref(0);
 let freshnessTicker: number | null = null;
 let changeTimeout: number | null = null;
+let loadingTimer: number | null = null;
+const LOADING_TIMEOUT_MS = 10_000; // escalate to error after 10s with no data
 
 // Helper: safely convert a Wei BigInt string to ETH float
 function weiToEth(wei: string | null | undefined): number {
@@ -417,6 +422,7 @@ async function fetchStats() {
       stats.value = s;
       secondsSinceUpdate.value = 0;
       error.value = false;
+      if (loadingTimer) { clearTimeout(loadingTimer); loadingTimer = null; }
     } else {
       throw new Error('No stats data');
     }
@@ -428,6 +434,10 @@ async function fetchStats() {
 }
 
 onMounted(async () => {
+  // Escalate to error state if no data arrives within the timeout window
+  loadingTimer = window.setTimeout(() => {
+    if (!stats.value) error.value = true;
+  }, LOADING_TIMEOUT_MS);
   await fetchStats();
   fetchEthPrice();
   refreshInterval = window.setInterval(fetchStats, 30000); // Refresh every 30 seconds
@@ -440,6 +450,7 @@ onUnmounted(() => {
   if (ethPriceInterval) clearInterval(ethPriceInterval);
   if (freshnessTicker) clearInterval(freshnessTicker);
   if (changeTimeout) clearTimeout(changeTimeout);
+  if (loadingTimer) clearTimeout(loadingTimer);
 });
 </script>
 
@@ -610,4 +621,15 @@ onUnmounted(() => {
     background-position: 200% 0
   100%
     background-position: -200% 0
+
+.live-stats-error
+  display: flex
+  align-items: center
+  justify-content: center
+
+.error-message
+  font-size: 14px
+  color: #f87171
+  text-align: center
+  letter-spacing: 0.3px
 </style>