diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index 6dc19eda9..adcc0adca 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -672,6 +672,8 @@ func MakeSystemNode(name, version string, extra []byte, ctx *cli.Context) *node.
 			ethConf.Genesis = core.TestNetGenesisBlock()
 		}
 		state.StartingNonce = 1048576 // (2**20)
+		// overwrite homestead block
+		params.HomesteadBlock = params.TestNetHomesteadBlock
 
 	case ctx.GlobalBool(DevModeFlag.Name):
 		// Override the base network stack configs
diff --git a/params/util.go b/params/util.go
index 856a39e3a..0a14f0374 100644
--- a/params/util.go
+++ b/params/util.go
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@ package params
 
 import "math/big"
 
-var HomesteadBlock *big.Int = big.NewInt(2000000)
+var (
+	TestNetHomesteadBlock = big.NewInt(494000)    // testnet homestead block
+	MainNetHomesteadBlock = big.NewInt(2000000)   // mainnet homestead block
+	HomesteadBlock        = MainNetHomesteadBlock // homestead block used to check against
+)
 
 func IsHomestead(blockNumber *big.Int) bool {
 	// for unit tests TODO: flip to true after homestead is live