diff --git a/docs/env.md b/docs/env.md
index a20500736..9c718177c 100644
--- a/docs/env.md
+++ b/docs/env.md
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ Environmental variables are also tracked in `ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES` within `src/
 - `RATE_DENY_LIST`: Blocked list of IPs and peer IDs. Example: `"{ \"peers\": [\"16Uiu2HAkuYfgjXoGcSSLSpRPD6XtUgV71t5RqmTmcqdbmrWY9MJo\"], \"ips\": [\"127.0.0.1\"] }"`
 - `MAX_REQ_PER_SECOND`: Number of requests per second allowed by the same client. Example: `3`
 - `MAX_CHECKSUM_LENGTH`: Define the maximum length for a file if checksum is required (Mb). Example: `10`
+- `IS_BOOTSTRAP`: Is this node to be used as bootstrap node or not. Default is `false`.
 
 ## Logs
 
diff --git a/src/@types/OceanNode.ts b/src/@types/OceanNode.ts
index bc0f9d535..f221a30d8 100644
--- a/src/@types/OceanNode.ts
+++ b/src/@types/OceanNode.ts
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ export interface OceanNodeConfig {
   rateLimit?: number
   denyList?: DenyList
   unsafeURLs?: string[]
+  isBootstrap?: boolean
 }
 
 export interface P2PStatusResponse {
diff --git a/src/components/P2P/index.ts b/src/components/P2P/index.ts
index 9e9ec1c79..f8333115d 100644
--- a/src/components/P2P/index.ts
+++ b/src/components/P2P/index.ts
@@ -124,7 +124,11 @@ export class OceanP2P extends EventEmitter {
     this._protocol = '/ocean/nodes/1.0.0'
 
     // this._interval = setInterval(this._pollPeers.bind(this), this._options.pollInterval)
-    this._libp2p.handle(this._protocol, handleProtocolCommands.bind(this))
+
+    // only enable handling of commands if not bootstrap node
+    if (!this._config.isBootstrap) {
+      this._libp2p.handle(this._protocol, handleProtocolCommands.bind(this))
+    }
 
     setInterval(this.republishStoredDDOS.bind(this), REPUBLISH_INTERVAL_HOURS)
 
diff --git a/src/utils/config.ts b/src/utils/config.ts
index bc659edcf..c96b4f3ff 100644
--- a/src/utils/config.ts
+++ b/src/utils/config.ts
@@ -616,7 +616,8 @@ async function getEnvConfig(isStartup?: boolean): Promise<OceanNodeConfig> {
       ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES.UNSAFE_URLS,
       isStartup,
       knownUnsafeURLs
-    )
+    ),
+    isBootstrap: getBoolEnvValue(process.env.IS_BOOTSTRAP, false)
   }
 
   if (!previousConfiguration) {
diff --git a/src/utils/constants.ts b/src/utils/constants.ts
index b1acee704..2bf91f761 100644
--- a/src/utils/constants.ts
+++ b/src/utils/constants.ts
@@ -317,6 +317,11 @@ export const ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES: Record<any, EnvVariable> = {
     name: 'DB_TYPE',
     value: process.env.DB_TYPE,
     required: false
+  },
+  IS_BOOTSTRAP: {
+    name: 'IS_BOOTSTRAP',
+    value: process.env.IS_BOOTSTRAP,
+    required: false
   }
 }