diff --git a/cl/beacon/handler/block_production.go b/cl/beacon/handler/block_production.go
index 710fd009c4c..9d9b4bf239c 100644
--- a/cl/beacon/handler/block_production.go
+++ b/cl/beacon/handler/block_production.go
@@ -300,11 +300,16 @@ func (a *ApiHandler) GetEthV3ValidatorBlock(
 		)
 	}
 
-	// make a simple copy to the current head state
-	baseState, err := a.forkchoiceStore.GetStateAtBlockRoot(
-		baseBlockRoot,
-		true,
-	) // we start the block production from this state
+	var baseState *state.CachingBeaconState
+	if err := a.syncedData.ViewHeadState(func(headState *state.CachingBeaconState) error {
+		baseState, err = headState.Copy()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return nil
+	}); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -1177,7 +1182,7 @@ func (a *ApiHandler) storeBlockAndBlobs(
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if err := a.forkchoiceStore.OnBlock(ctx, block, true, false, false); err != nil {
+	if err := a.forkchoiceStore.OnBlock(ctx, block, true, true, false); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	finalizedBlockRoot := a.forkchoiceStore.FinalizedCheckpoint().Root
diff --git a/cl/cltypes/solid/hash_list.go b/cl/cltypes/solid/hash_list.go
index 1b8bc09fcd2..cca7e5c435c 100644
--- a/cl/cltypes/solid/hash_list.go
+++ b/cl/cltypes/solid/hash_list.go
@@ -109,6 +109,12 @@ func (h *hashList) CopyTo(t IterableSSZ[libcommon.Hash]) {
 			tu.MerkleTree = &merkle_tree.MerkleTree{}
 		}
 		h.MerkleTree.CopyInto(tu.MerkleTree)
+		// make the leaf function on the new buffer
+		tu.MerkleTree.SetComputeLeafFn(func(idx int, out []byte) {
+			copy(out, tu.u[idx*length.Hash:])
+		})
+	} else {
+		tu.MerkleTree = nil
 	}
 	copy(tu.u, h.u)
 }
diff --git a/cl/cltypes/solid/uint64slice_byte.go b/cl/cltypes/solid/uint64slice_byte.go
index a251d683c8f..750e9378ffb 100644
--- a/cl/cltypes/solid/uint64slice_byte.go
+++ b/cl/cltypes/solid/uint64slice_byte.go
@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ func (arr *byteBasedUint64Slice) CopyTo(target *byteBasedUint64Slice) {
 			target.MerkleTree = &merkle_tree.MerkleTree{}
 		}
 		arr.MerkleTree.CopyInto(target.MerkleTree)
+		target.SetComputeLeafFn(func(idx int, out []byte) {
+			copy(out, target.u[idx*length.Hash:])
+		})
+	} else {
+		target.MerkleTree = nil
 	}
 
 	target.u = target.u[:len(arr.u)]
diff --git a/cl/cltypes/solid/validator_set.go b/cl/cltypes/solid/validator_set.go
index 6c439c5d53c..79e94d67b4c 100644
--- a/cl/cltypes/solid/validator_set.go
+++ b/cl/cltypes/solid/validator_set.go
@@ -141,6 +141,11 @@ func (v *ValidatorSet) CopyTo(t *ValidatorSet) {
 			t.MerkleTree = &merkle_tree.MerkleTree{}
 		}
 		v.MerkleTree.CopyInto(t.MerkleTree)
+		t.MerkleTree.SetComputeLeafFn(func(idx int, out []byte) {
+			copy(out, t.buffer[idx*validatorSize:])
+		})
+	} else {
+		t.MerkleTree = nil
 	}
 	// skip copying (unsupported for phase0)
 	t.phase0Data = make([]Phase0Data, t.l)
diff --git a/cl/merkle_tree/merkle_tree.go b/cl/merkle_tree/merkle_tree.go
index e7480fb6b4b..819ab224dda 100644
--- a/cl/merkle_tree/merkle_tree.go
+++ b/cl/merkle_tree/merkle_tree.go
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@ func (m *MerkleTree) Initialize(leavesCount, maxTreeCacheDepth int, computeLeaf
 	m.dirtyLeaves = make([]atomic.Bool, leavesCount)
 }
 
+func (m *MerkleTree) SetComputeLeafFn(computeLeaf func(idx int, out []byte)) {
+	m.computeLeaf = computeLeaf
+}
+
 func (m *MerkleTree) MarkLeafAsDirty(idx int) {
 	m.mu.RLock()
 	defer m.mu.RUnlock()
@@ -207,7 +211,7 @@ func (m *MerkleTree) CopyInto(other *MerkleTree) {
 	m.mu.RLock()
 	defer m.mu.RUnlock()
 	defer other.mu.Unlock()
-	other.computeLeaf = m.computeLeaf
+	//other.computeLeaf = m.computeLeaf
 	if len(other.layers) > len(m.layers) {
 		// reset the internal layers
 		for i := len(m.layers); i < len(other.layers); i++ {
diff --git a/cl/phase1/core/state/cache.go b/cl/phase1/core/state/cache.go
index a5180932831..e3b76a4916b 100644
--- a/cl/phase1/core/state/cache.go
+++ b/cl/phase1/core/state/cache.go
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ func (b *CachingBeaconState) initCaches() error {
 func (b *CachingBeaconState) InitBeaconState() error {
 	b.totalActiveBalanceCache = nil
 	b._refreshActiveBalancesIfNeeded()
-
+	b.previousStateRoot = common.Hash{}
 	b.publicKeyIndicies = make(map[[48]byte]uint64)
 	b.ForEachValidator(func(validator solid.Validator, i, total int) bool {
 		b.publicKeyIndicies[validator.PublicKey()] = uint64(i)