diff --git a/cmd/juno/juno.go b/cmd/juno/juno.go
index 08ce3f840e..ba291e7dff 100644
--- a/cmd/juno/juno.go
+++ b/cmd/juno/juno.go
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ const (
 	dbPathF                 = "db-path"
 	networkF                = "network"
 	ethNodeF                = "eth-node"
+	noEthNodeF              = "no-eth-node"
 	pprofF                  = "pprof"
 	pprofHostF              = "pprof-host"
 	pprofPortF              = "pprof-port"
@@ -91,6 +92,7 @@ const (
 	defaultWS                       = false
 	defaultWSPort                   = 6061
 	defaultEthNode                  = ""
+	defaultNoEthNode                = false
 	defaultPprof                    = false
 	defaultPprofPort                = 6062
 	defaultColour                   = true
@@ -145,6 +147,7 @@ const (
 	colourUsage                           = "Use `--colour=false` command to disable colourized outputs (ANSI Escape Codes)."
 	ethNodeUsage                          = "WebSocket endpoint of the Ethereum node. To verify the correctness of the L2 chain, " +
 		"Juno must connect to an Ethereum node and parse events in the Starknet contract."
+	noEthNodeUsage           = "Disables the connection to the Ethereum node."
 	pendingPollIntervalUsage = "Sets how frequently pending block will be updated (0s will disable fetching of pending block)."
 	p2pUsage                 = "EXPERIMENTAL: Enables p2p server."
 	p2pAddrUsage             = "EXPERIMENTAL: Specify p2p listening source address as multiaddr.  Example: /ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/7777"
@@ -327,6 +330,7 @@ func NewCmd(config *node.Config, run func(*cobra.Command, []string) error) *cobr
 	junoCmd.Flags().String(cnCoreContractAddressF, defaultCNCoreContractAddressStr, networkCustomCoreContractAddressUsage)
 	junoCmd.Flags().IntSlice(cnUnverifiableRangeF, defaultCNUnverifiableRange, networkCustomUnverifiableRange)
 	junoCmd.Flags().String(ethNodeF, defaultEthNode, ethNodeUsage)
+	junoCmd.Flags().Bool(noEthNodeF, defaultNoEthNode, noEthNodeUsage)
 	junoCmd.Flags().Bool(pprofF, defaultPprof, pprofUsage)
 	junoCmd.Flags().String(pprofHostF, defaulHost, pprofHostUsage)
 	junoCmd.Flags().Uint16(pprofPortF, defaultPprofPort, pprofPortUsage)
diff --git a/node/node.go b/node/node.go
index 63f0bb132a..52d810d56b 100644
--- a/node/node.go
+++ b/node/node.go
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	DatabasePath           string         `mapstructure:"db-path"`
 	Network                utils.Network  `mapstructure:"network"`
 	EthNode                string         `mapstructure:"eth-node"`
+	NoEthNode              bool           `mapstructure:"no-eth-node"`
 	Pprof                  bool           `mapstructure:"pprof"`
 	PprofHost              string         `mapstructure:"pprof-host"`
 	PprofPort              uint16         `mapstructure:"pprof-port"`
@@ -273,10 +274,14 @@ func New(cfg *Config, version string) (*Node, error) { //nolint:gocyclo,funlen
 	}
 
 	if n.cfg.EthNode == "" {
-		n.log.Warnw("Ethereum node address not found; will not verify against L1")
+		if n.cfg.NoEthNode {
+			n.log.Warnw("Ethereum node address not found; will not verify against L1")
+		} else {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("--eth-node flag is required, you can use --no-eth-node to disable L1 verification")
+		}
 	} else {
 		var l1Client *l1.Client
-		l1Client, err = newL1Client(cfg, n.blockchain, n.log)
+		l1Client, err = newL1Client(cfg.EthNode, cfg.Metrics, n.blockchain, n.log)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("create L1 client: %w", err)
 		}
@@ -293,26 +298,26 @@ func New(cfg *Config, version string) (*Node, error) { //nolint:gocyclo,funlen
 	return n, nil
 }
 
-func newL1Client(cfg *Config, chain *blockchain.Blockchain, log utils.SimpleLogger) (*l1.Client, error) {
-	ethNodeURL, err := url.Parse(cfg.EthNode)
+func newL1Client(ethNode string, includeMetrics bool, chain *blockchain.Blockchain, log utils.SimpleLogger) (*l1.Client, error) {
+	ethNodeURL, err := url.Parse(ethNode)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse Ethereum node URL: %w", err)
 	}
 	if ethNodeURL.Scheme != "wss" && ethNodeURL.Scheme != "ws" {
-		return nil, errors.New("non-websocket Ethereum node URL (need wss://... or ws://...): " + cfg.EthNode)
+		return nil, errors.New("non-websocket Ethereum node URL (need wss://... or ws://...): " + ethNode)
 	}
 
 	network := chain.Network()
 
 	var ethSubscriber *l1.EthSubscriber
-	ethSubscriber, err = l1.NewEthSubscriber(cfg.EthNode, network.CoreContractAddress)
+	ethSubscriber, err = l1.NewEthSubscriber(ethNode, network.CoreContractAddress)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("set up ethSubscriber: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	l1Client := l1.NewClient(ethSubscriber, chain, log)
 
-	if cfg.Metrics {
+	if includeMetrics {
 		l1Client.WithEventListener(makeL1Metrics())
 	}
 	return l1Client, nil