On March 18, 2025, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced significant updates regarding its testnets, specifically revealing that the 'Holesky' testnet is set to end its support on September 30, 2025. This news comes as part of a broader initiative to enhance Ethereum's infrastructure, leading to the introduction of a new testnet called 'Hoodi', which is intended to address existing issues faced by the current network.
The transition plan indicates that the 'Hoodi' testnet will see its first major upgrade, the 'Pectra', activated on March 26, 2025, at 7:37:12 UTC. Prior to this, the 'Pectra' upgrade had already been implemented for the 'Sepolia' testnet on March 5, 2025, as well as 'Holesky' on February 24, 2025. However, this upgrade highlighted several issues related to client operations arising from changes to the 'permissioned deposit contract' structure.
While the 'Sepolia' network was restored immediately, the 'Holesky' testnet has seen a significant number of its validators go offline, which halted operations on the network. Although the 'Holesky' network has since been restored, EF estimates that resolving the underlying validator issues will take about a year. In the interim, testing functionalities for the 'Pectra' upgrade on 'Holesky' will only encompass capabilities excluding validator withdrawals. In response to these ongoing challenges, the Ethereum Foundation has initiated the deployment of 'Hoodi'.
Hoodi is expected to provide a more stable environment for validating transactions and testing other Ethereum functionalities. As a critical step forward, staking operators and infrastructure providers will be required to utilize 'Hoodi' for validator testing going forward. To ensure a smooth transition and adequate time for migration from 'Holesky', EF plans to continue this testnet's support, along with Long-Term Support (LTS), until September 2025.
The announcement further laid out the timelines for support cessation of other testnets. Like 'Holesky', the 'Hoodi' testnet, used primarily by validators and staking providers, is set to conclude its operations on September 30, 2028. Meanwhile, the 'Sepolia' testnet—designed for application and tool developers—will end its support on September 30, 2026, with a successor testnet scheduled to launch in March 2026.
Such developments underscore the Ethereum Foundation's commitment to continuously improving the reliability and functionality of its networks. As the foundation phases out 'Holesky', the focus shifts to 'Hoodi', which is hope to resolve the challenges encountered in the current landscape. This transition is vital for enhancing user experience and operational integrity within the Ethereum ecosystem.
The Ethereum community is keenly watching these developments as they play a crucial role in the future of decentralized applications and the broader blockchain environment. Ensuring that testnets function without significant downtime or malfunction is essential to maintain the trust of developers and users alike.
As the industry anticipates the activation of 'Hoodi' and the evolving roadmaps for Ethereum's testnets, stakeholders are optimistic that the improvements will foster a more robust infrastructure for validation processes, ultimately driving Ethereum's growth and adoption in the long term.
