Ethereum ends its largest public testnet, Holešky, in two weeks following the Fusaka upgrade. Testing operations will be transitioned to the new Hoodi testnet.
Announcement of Holešky Closure
On September 1, the Ethereum Foundation’s Protocol Support team announced the two-week countdown to the sunsetting of the Holešky testnet. The process will commence after the Fusaka upgrade finalizes, leading to the shutdown of most validator nodes. Following this period, Holešky will enter a completely unsupported state, with no further maintenance provided by core development teams.
Legacy of Holešky and Evolution of Ethereum Testnets
Launched in 2023, Holešky was designed to support a massive validator set, allowing infrastructure providers and staking services to stress-test protocol upgrades like Dencun and Pectra. However, prolonged inactivity after the Pectra activation in early 2025 revealed critical limitations: timely testing of the full validator lifecycle became increasingly difficult. To address these challenges, the foundation introduced Hoodi in March 2025 — a new testnet designed for efficient validator operations.
Migration Path
The foundation has provided clear migration instructions for projects still operational on Holešky. Staking operators and node infrastructure providers are directed to transition to the Hoodi testnet. Application and smart contract developers using Holešky are advised to move to the Sepolia testnet, which remains the recommended environment for dApp and tool development. The closure of Holešky formalizes a new, streamlined structure for Ethereum, focusing on three specialized environments: Sepolia for application development, Hoodi for validator testing, and Ephemery for rapid validator lifecycle tests.
The retirement of the Holešky testnet highlights the evolution of Ethereum's testing networks towards more specialized and efficient solutions for developers.
