After the Fusaka fork, the Holesky Testnet will be closed! Ethereum is fully migrating to Hoodi.

The Ethereum Foundation announced that its largest Testnet, Holesky, will officially shut down within two weeks after the upcoming Fusaka fork and will fully migrate to the next-generation Hoodi Testnet. This decision marks a significant transformation of the Ethereum testing environment, aimed at providing a more stable and efficient infrastructure for future protocol upgrades.

Holesky is about to retire: mission accomplished, time to step back

Holesky went live in September 2023, mainly used for testing staking infrastructure and validator operations, and successfully supported major network upgrades such as Dencun and Pectra during this period.

However, in early 2025, Holesky experienced a large-scale "inactivity bug" that led to a surge in validators exiting the queue. Although it eventually returned to normal, the foundation decided to activate a brand new Testnet called Hoodi to prevent similar issues from occurring again.

Hoodi Takes Over: Supporting Fusaka and Future Upgrades

The Hoodi Testnet was launched in March this year, has supported the Pectra upgrade, and will become the core platform for future protocol testing, including the upcoming Fusaka fork.

The foundation stated that it will assist all Holesky staking operators and infrastructure teams in migrating to Hoodi, while recommending developers to temporarily use Sepolia as the preferred network for smart contract and DApp testing.

Fusaka fork: Enhancing Layer-2 Scalability

Fusaka (Fulu-Osaka) is scheduled to launch on the mainnet in early November, introducing 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). The core objective is to optimize data availability allocation, reduce the burden on validators, and enhance the transaction processing speed and cost efficiency of Layer-2 Rollups.

This upgrade will simplify node operation, strengthen decentralization, and lay the foundation for future scalability.

Future Blueprint: Glamsterdam and 6 Second Block Time

After Fusaka, the next major upgrade will be Glamsterdam (EIP-7782), expected to be released in 2026. It plans to shorten the block time to 6 seconds and introduce a mechanism for separating block validation and execution, allowing more time for zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) proofs.

ETH Market Impact: Institutional Holdings Drive Price Surge

Recently, multiple publicly listed companies have established ETH treasuries, a trend seen as a significant driving force behind the more than 200% increase in ETH prices since April. With the implementation of Fusaka and subsequent upgrades, market confidence in the long-term value of ETH continues to strengthen.

Conclusion

The retirement of the Holesky Testnet and the handover to Hoodi marks a new phase for Ethereum's testing infrastructure. With major milestones like the Fusaka fork and the Glamsterdam upgrade approaching, Ethereum is accelerating towards a more efficient, decentralized, and scalable future.