{"id":17437,"date":"2026-02-19T17:59:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/holesky-testnet-shutdown-announcement-ethereum-foundation-blog\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:59:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:59:01","slug":"holesky-testnet-shutdown-announcement-ethereum-foundation-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/holesky-testnet-shutdown-announcement-ethereum-foundation-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Hole\u0161ky Testnet Shutdown Announcement | Ethereum Foundation Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"


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As previously announced<\/a>, the Hole\u0161ky testnet has reached its planned end-of-life date and will be sunset shortly. The vast majority of remaining validator nodes will be shut down 2 weeks after the Fusaka upgrade has finalized on Hole\u0161ky. After this, Hole\u0161ky will no longer be supported by client, testing or infrastructure teams.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the launch of the Hoodi testnet<\/a> in March 2025, infrastructure providers and staking operators have had the opportunity to migrate their testing operations.<\/p>\n

<\/g><\/svg><\/a>Background<\/h2>\n

Hole\u0161ky was launched in 2023 as Ethereum’s largest public testnet, designed specifically for testing staking infrastructure and validator operations at scale. The network served its purpose, enabling thousands of validators to test protocol upgrades, including the Dencun network upgrade<\/a> and most recently, Pectra<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, following the Pectra testnet activation in early 2025, Hole\u0161ky experienced extensive inactivity leaks that resulted in a large exit queue. While the network recovered and finalized, the lengthy validator exit process made it impractical for testing the full validator lifecycle within reasonable timeframes. This led to the creation and launch of Hoodi in March 2025, providing a fresh testing environment without these constraints.<\/p>\n

<\/g><\/svg><\/a>Migration Path<\/h2>\n

Staking operators and infrastructure providers should migrate to Hoodi<\/a><\/strong>, which was launched specifically to address Hole\u0161ky’s limitations. Hoodi provides a fresh validator set, supports all Pectra features and will activate future protocol upgrades, including the upcoming Fusaka fork.<\/p>\n

Application and tooling developers<\/strong> who were using Hole\u0161ky should use Sepolia<\/a> instead, which remains the recommended testnet for smart contract and dapp testing.<\/p>\n

<\/g><\/svg><\/a>Current Testnet Landscape<\/h2>\n

Following Hole\u0161ky’s sunset, Ethereum’s testnet ecosystem will consist of:<\/p>\n