Holešky Testnet Shutdown Announcement | Ethereum Foundation Blog

As previously announced, the Holešky testnet has reached its deliberate end-of-life date and can be sundown shortly. The overwhelming majority of remaining validator nodes can be shut down 2 weeks after the Fusaka improve has finalized on Holešky. After this, Holešky will not be supported by shopper, testing or infrastructure groups.

Following the launch of the Hoodi testnet in March 2025, infrastructure suppliers and staking operators have had the chance emigrate their testing operations.

Background

Holešky was launched in 2023 as Ethereum’s largest public testnet, designed particularly for testing staking infrastructure and validator operations at scale. The community served its function, enabling 1000’s of validators to check protocol upgrades, together with the Dencun network upgrade and most just lately, Pectra.

Nevertheless, following the Pectra testnet activation in early 2025, Holešky skilled intensive inactivity leaks that resulted in a big exit queue. Whereas the community recovered and finalized, the prolonged validator exit course of made it impractical for testing the complete validator lifecycle inside cheap timeframes. This led to the creation and launch of Hoodi in March 2025, offering a contemporary testing atmosphere with out these constraints.

Migration Path

Staking operators and infrastructure suppliers ought to migrate to Hoodi, which was launched particularly to deal with Holešky’s limitations. Hoodi supplies a contemporary validator set, helps all Pectra options and can activate future protocol upgrades, together with the upcoming Fusaka fork.

Software and tooling builders who had been utilizing Holešky ought to use Sepolia as an alternative, which stays the really helpful testnet for sensible contract and dapp testing.

Present Testnet Panorama

Following Holešky’s sundown, Ethereum’s testnet ecosystem will include:

• Sepolia: Software and tooling improvement
• Hoodi: Validator and staking supplier testing
• Ephemery: Light-weight validator lifecycle testing with resets each 28 days

Trying Ahead

Holešky supplied priceless insights into large-scale validator operations and helped stress-test vital protocol upgrades. These learnings have instantly knowledgeable each Hoodi’s design and broader protocol testing practices.

Thanks to everybody who contributed to operating, sustaining, and testing on Holešky over the previous years!