diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 09008a7e..4e5f7b83 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ For example, this `eth-network-params.json` adds a second node, running a differ
     "seconds_per_slot": 12,
     "genesis_delay": 120,
     "capella_fork_epoch": 5,
-    "deneb_fork_epoch": 10
+    "deneb_fork_epoch": 500
   },
   "global_client_log_level": "info"
 }
diff --git a/package_io/input_parser.star b/package_io/input_parser.star
index fdcf1e7b..172a59c0 100644
--- a/package_io/input_parser.star
+++ b/package_io/input_parser.star
@@ -160,7 +160,9 @@ def default_network_params():
 		"slots_per_epoch":                       32,
 		"genesis_delay":                         10,
 		"capella_fork_epoch":                    2,
-		"deneb_fork_epoch":                      5,
+		# arbitrarily large while we sort out https://github.com/kurtosis-tech/eth-network-package/issues/42
+		# this will take 53~ hoours for now
+		"deneb_fork_epoch":                      500,
 	}
 
 def default_participant():