New Ethereum Testnet ‘Hoodi’ Announced for Pectra Testing

The Hoodi Testnet has been introduced as a response to critical issues faced by Holesky, particularly its prolonged non-finality and an overwhelming validator exit queue. With Hoodi, Ethereum developers and staking providers will have a fresh, reliable environment to test infrastructure upgrades, validator exits, and staking operations without the baggage of past network failures.

In this blog post, we’ll explore why Hoodi was created, what it aims to solve, its technical specifications, and what it means for developers, staking providers, and the broader Ethereum community.

Why Was Hoodi Created?

Holesky, one of Ethereum’s major testnets, suffered from non-finality for nearly two weeks, which led to widespread network instability. While finality was eventually restored, the prolonged downtime had several cascading effects:

• Mass validator slashings due to prolonged downtime.
• A validator exit queue exceeding one million, making it impractical for testing staking operations.
• Inability to test Pectra exits, which is a critical requirement for staking providers.
• Differences in ejection balance (28 ETH on Holesky vs. 16 ETH on Mainnet), creating further inconsistencies in real-world testing.

The Ethereum core developers debated several potential solutions, including modifying Holesky, launching a shadow fork, or spinning up a new testnet. The decision was made to launch Hoodi as a fresh testnet while keeping Holesky active for limited use cases.

What is Hoodi Testnet?

Hoodi is designed to be a long-term, stable testnet that aligns closely with Ethereum’s Mainnet parameters. Unlike Holesky, which is burdened by a massive validator exit queue and staking inconsistencies, Hoodi will provide a clean, controlled environment for testing.

Hoodi will enable realistic validator exit testing, unlike Holesky, where exits were delayed indefinitely due to the backlog. By avoiding Holesky’s issues, Hoodi ensures finality conditions remain consistent for developers and staking providers.

Hoodi will mirror Ethereum’s Mainnet as closely as possible in terms of validator configurations and network conditions. With a predictable validator lifecycle, developers and staking providers can test integrations faster and more efficiently.

How Hoodi Benefits Different Stakeholders?

For Developers: Hoodi provides a stable testnet environment where smart contracts, infrastructure tooling, and client upgrades can be tested without worrying about network inconsistencies. Since it mimics Ethereum’s Mainnet, developers can expect reliable and reproducible results.

For Staking Providers & Node Operators: Unlike Holesky, where the exit queue delays made testing validator exits impractical, Hoodi allows efficient staking provider testing. Large-scale staking pools like Lido, Eigen Layer, and Rocket Pool will be able to deploy and test integrations without waiting for months.

For Ethereum Core Developers: Core teams working on upcoming hard forks and protocol upgrades can now rely on Hoodi for consistent and long-term testing. With predictable timelines and network stability, Hoodi reduces the overhead caused by past testnet failures.

Hoodi will be helpful in testing future protocol upgrades, refining staking mechanisms, and improving client stability. If you’re a developer, staking provider, or infrastructure team, now is the time to get ready for integration with Hoodi.

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