How to Speed Up Ethereum Block Sync with Custom Static Nodes

Why Ethereum Sync Is Slow

Synchronizing an Ethereum node with the default geth client can take a long time, especially in China where the number of domestic peers is limited and network restrictions cause frequent connection failures. The EthFans "Spark Node" initiative aggregates voluntarily run super‑nodes and packages their information into a static-nodes.json file that can be downloaded and used to connect to many more peers.

Step‑by‑Step Setup

1. Locate the data directory

Find the folder where geth stores its chain data. The default locations are:

Mac: ~/Library/Ethereum

Linux: ~/.ethereum

Windows: %APPDATA%\Ethereum

You can also specify a custom path with the --datadir flag when launching geth.

2. Add the static‑nodes file

Create a file named static-nodes.json in the data directory and paste the following JSON array of enode URLs (each entry ends with a comma except the last one):

[
  "enode://91922b12115c067005c574844c6bbdb114eb262f90b6355cec89e13b483c3e4669c6d63ec66b6e3ca7a3a462d28edb3c659e9fa05ed4c7234524e582a8816743@120.27.164.92:13333",
  "enode://6427b7e7446bb05f22fe7ce9ea175ec05858953d75a5a6e4f99a6aec0779a8bd6276f1959a42fe5948acbe14bcd0652082dc546d3b37ae8f2aea41eba4eca43b@121.201.14.181:30303",
  "enode://3dde41a994b3b99f938f75ddf6d48318c78ddd869c70b48d00b922190bb434fc5474f6250c143723f4387273d123e02f6a38f07d0311f240d2915f6140e09850@207.226.141.212:30303",
  "enode://7ab8fa90b204f2146c00939b8474549c544caa3598a0894fa639a5cdbd992cbc6135fd776f8bcf97ae95fdaa3afbfa2d107fea71549119afd7ea57356b899be5@121.201.24.236:30303",
  "enode://db81152a8296089b04a21ad9bf347df3ff0450ffc8215d9f50c400ccf8d18963118010cacf03c4b71981cf9cac5394438cab3039e98db4d2aae5859ab7d1793e@139.198.1.244:30303",
  "enode://68dd1360f0a4ac362b41124692e31652ffe26f6f06a284ca11f3b514b3968594ac1f4320d1aa1ca343b06327c18a2e40eded74edfb3086e1baaa27ca24226b21@113.106.85.172:30303",
  "enode://58f6b6908286cefe43c166cfc4fed033c750caa1bc3f6e1e1e1507752c0b91248addb3122f8557c5f8912e702285a160ab3a10203ae1eff3807eda25d6ed6478@45.113.71.186:30303",
  "enode://87190a01c02cafb97e7f49672b4c3be2937cf79c3969e0b8e7b35cac28cebfbda52a13d56fd2113c726a1dd359c9476ccf7e60651439cef56e3a71039f6a4f5e@119.29.207.90:30303",
  "enode://d1fdd05a62fd9544eeb455e4f4d4bd8bb574138d82d8f909f3041d0792e3401f8695133d39ad0a3aa5d217e3c5bed0511b531505a67b03607a909ae9096720d2@120.26.129.121:30303",
  "enode://a1e9cf99eca94590ae776c8dd5c6c043a8c1f0375e9e391c9fb55133385bf453ac3d3fb3ead8e63415b2ef99d54a19e2a7bc830cd1fdbbb283818e3bcb0ea31e@182.254.209.254:30303",
  "enode://562796b19d43d79dfb6160abd2d7bb78a2f2efd9501a0a767c00677e0fb3a4407235f813c3003682c2a421a58709c52f595827bc15708cc5f534f55d0f8d03ad@121.40.199.54:30303",
  "enode://fa2c17dcc83a6e2825668210abf7480452de4b13d8bdea8f301c3b603701918bc4dade9e68d119d7a8214e90e7ea10a2782041c98951385d97bee73358fb08f4@120.26.124.58:30303",
  "enode://0b331b27e2976d797aed1d1464ac483a7f262860334cb5737a01a0188da08d79226a6973adc5f2a2c1a20192b399161eee23a0d56ecf472cbe4058d010ecc89f@47.89.49.61:30303",
  "enode://fd2a5d30e4f3917ee640876cc57d72a8bf5ecf049e9106c95e60cf306dd7a5dd68d1a295f3718af44a7083252686926d6e8a402f1abe6f805e10e7281967db28@121.201.29.82:30303",
  "enode://0d1b9eed7afe2d5878d5d8a4c2066b600a3bcac2e5730586421af224e93a58cd03cac75bf0b2a62fd8049cd3692a085758cc1e407c8b2c94bb069814a5e8d0f0@209.9.106.245:30303"
]

3. Verify the connection

Start geth normally, open the JavaScript console (e.g., geth attach), and run admin.peers. If the listed enode URLs appear, the static nodes have been loaded successfully.

4. Add a node via console (optional)

You can also add a peer on the fly with the console command:

admin.addPeer("enode://91922b12115c067005c574844c6bbdb114eb262f90b6355cec89e13b483c3e4669c6d63ec66b6e3ca7a3a462d28edb3c659e9fa05ed4c7234524e582a8816743@120.27.164.92:13333")

Note that peers added this way disappear after a node restart unless they are also listed in static-nodes.json.

5. Increase the maximum number of peers

By default geth connects to 11‑13 peers. To allow more connections, launch geth with the --maxpeers 100 flag (or any desired upper limit). Be aware that a higher peer count consumes more CPU, memory, and disk I/O.