Holešky Testnet Shutdown Announcement

The Ethereum Foundation is retiring the Holešky testnet, which has reached its planned end-of-life. Two weeks after the Fusaka upgrade finalizes on Holešky, most validator nodes will be shut down and the network will no longer be supported. Launched in 2023 as Ethereum’s largest public testnet for large-scale staking and validator testing, Holešky successfully supported major upgrades like Dencun and Pectra. However, post-Pectra inactivity leaks and long validator exit queues made it impractical for full lifecycle testing, prompting the launch of the Hoodi testnet in March 2025 as a fresh, unconstrained environment.

Key Ideas

Migration to Hoodi for Staking Tests: Hoodi offers a clean validator set, supports all Pectra features, and will host future upgrades like Fusaka. It resolves Holešky’s operational limitations.
Sepolia for Application Testing: Developers building smart contracts and dapps should use Sepolia, while Ephemery remains available for lightweight validator lifecycle testing with frequent resets.

Why It Matters?

Validators running infrastructure services can pivot resources to Hoodi, ensuring compatibility with upcoming protocol upgrades and maintaining relevance in Ethereum’s evolving testnet ecosystem. Developers need to transition application and tooling testing to Sepolia for stable, long-term support. They can also use Ephemery for rapid validator lifecycle experiments.