diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/historicalState/metrics.ts b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/historicalState/metrics.ts
index ddf285b74d9..dc9a7fd5ba9 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/historicalState/metrics.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/historicalState/metrics.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ export function getMetrics(metricsRegister: RegistryMetricCreator): HistoricalSt
       buckets: [0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 1.5],
       labelNames: ["source"],
     }),
+    numEffectiveBalanceUpdates: metricsRegister.gauge({
+      name: "lodestar_historical_state_stfn_effective_balance_updates_count",
+      help: "Total count of effective balance updates",
+    }),
     preStateBalancesNodesPopulatedMiss: metricsRegister.gauge<{source: StateCloneSource}>({
       name: "lodestar_historical_state_stfn_balances_nodes_populated_miss_total",
       help: "Total count state.balances nodesPopulated is false on stfn",
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cmds/beacon/initBeaconState.ts b/packages/cli/src/cmds/beacon/initBeaconState.ts
index 2b4da1f070a..b0bbca8ff9a 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/cmds/beacon/initBeaconState.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/cmds/beacon/initBeaconState.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 import {ssz} from "@lodestar/types";
 import {createBeaconConfig, BeaconConfig, ChainForkConfig} from "@lodestar/config";
-import {Logger} from "@lodestar/utils";
+import {formatBytes, Logger} from "@lodestar/utils";
 import {
   isWithinWeakSubjectivityPeriod,
   ensureWithinWeakSubjectivityPeriod,
   BeaconStateAllForks,
   loadState,
+  loadStateAndValidators,
 } from "@lodestar/state-transition";
 import {
   IBeaconDb,
@@ -103,11 +104,17 @@ export async function initBeaconState(
   // fetch the latest state stored in the db which will be used in all cases, if it exists, either
   //   i)  used directly as the anchor state
   //   ii) used during verification of a weak subjectivity state,
-  const {stateBytes: lastDbStateBytes, slot: lastDbSlot} = await getLastStoredState({db, diffLayers: new DiffLayers()});
-  const lastDbState =
-    lastDbStateBytes && lastDbSlot !== null && lastDbSlot !== undefined
-      ? chainForkConfig.getForkTypes(lastDbSlot).BeaconState.deserializeToViewDU(lastDbStateBytes)
-      : null;
+  const {stateBytes, slot: lastDbSlot} = await getLastStoredState({db, diffLayers: new DiffLayers()});
+  let lastDbState: BeaconStateAllForks | null = null;
+  let lastDbValidatorsBytes: Uint8Array | null = null;
+  let lastDbStateWithBytes: StateWithBytes | null = null;
+  if (stateBytes) {
+    logger.verbose("Found the last archived state", {slot: lastDbSlot, size: formatBytes(stateBytes.length)});
+    const {state, validatorsBytes} = loadStateAndValidators(chainForkConfig, stateBytes);
+    lastDbState = state;
+    lastDbValidatorsBytes = validatorsBytes;
+    lastDbStateWithBytes = {state, stateBytes: stateBytes};
+  }
 
   if (lastDbState) {
     const config = createBeaconConfig(chainForkConfig, lastDbState.genesisValidatorsRoot);