diff --git a/src/commands/network.ts b/src/commands/network.ts
index a965cb2f1..465d9751d 100644
--- a/src/commands/network.ts
+++ b/src/commands/network.ts
@@ -263,15 +263,19 @@ export class NetworkCommand extends BaseCommand {
       constants.SOLO_DEPLOYMENT_CHART,
     );
 
-    config.genesisNetworkData = new GenesisNetworkDataConstructor(config.nodeAliases, this.keyManager, config.keysDir);
-
-    config.valuesArg = await this.prepareValuesArg(config);
-
     // compute other config parameters
     config.keysDir = path.join(validatePath(config.cacheDir), 'keys');
     config.stagingDir = Templates.renderStagingDir(config.cacheDir, config.releaseTag);
     config.stagingKeysDir = path.join(validatePath(config.stagingDir), 'keys');
 
+    config.genesisNetworkData = await GenesisNetworkDataConstructor.initialize(
+      config.nodeAliases,
+      this.keyManager,
+      config.keysDir,
+    );
+
+    config.valuesArg = await this.prepareValuesArg(config);
+
     if (!(await this.k8.hasNamespace(config.namespace))) {
       await this.k8.createNamespace(config.namespace);
     }
diff --git a/src/core/helpers.ts b/src/core/helpers.ts
index 1a8f16b4a..7c06ebdb8 100644
--- a/src/core/helpers.ts
+++ b/src/core/helpers.ts
@@ -323,16 +323,14 @@ export function prepareEndpoints(endpointType: string, endpoints: string[], defa
     if (endpointType.toUpperCase() === constants.ENDPOINT_TYPE_IP) {
       ret.push(
         new ServiceEndpoint({
-          // @ts-ignore
-          port,
+          port: +port,
           ipAddressV4: parseIpAddressToUint8Array(url),
         }),
       );
     } else {
       ret.push(
         new ServiceEndpoint({
-          // @ts-ignore
-          port,
+          port: +port,
           domainName: url,
         }),
       );
diff --git a/src/core/models/genesisNetworkDataConstructor.ts b/src/core/models/genesisNetworkDataConstructor.ts
index 0455a30be..f8c9a245a 100644
--- a/src/core/models/genesisNetworkDataConstructor.ts
+++ b/src/core/models/genesisNetworkDataConstructor.ts
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@ import type {NodeAlias, NodeAliases} from '../../types/aliases.js';
  * Used to construct the nodes data and convert them to JSON
  */
 export class GenesisNetworkDataConstructor implements ToJSON {
-  public readonly nodes: Record<NodeAlias, GenesisNetworkNodeDataWrapper>;
+  public readonly nodes: Record<NodeAlias, GenesisNetworkNodeDataWrapper> = {};
 
-  public constructor(
+  private constructor(
     private readonly nodeAliases: NodeAliases,
     private readonly keyManager: KeyManager,
     private readonly keysDir: string,
@@ -45,23 +45,37 @@ export class GenesisNetworkDataConstructor implements ToJSON {
     });
   }
 
+  public static async initialize(
+    nodeAliases: NodeAliases,
+    keyManager: KeyManager,
+    keysDir: string,
+  ): Promise<GenesisNetworkDataConstructor> {
+    const instance = new GenesisNetworkDataConstructor(nodeAliases, keyManager, keysDir);
+
+    await instance.load();
+
+    return instance;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Loads the gossipCaCertificate and grpcCertificateHash
    */
-  public async load() {
+  private async load() {
     await Promise.all(
       this.nodeAliases.map(async nodeAlias => {
         const nodeKeys = await this.keyManager.loadSigningKey(nodeAlias, this.keysDir);
 
+        //* Convert the certificate to PEM format
         const certPem = nodeKeys.certificate.toString();
 
+        //* Assign the PEM certificate
         this.nodes[nodeAlias].gossipCaCertificate = certPem;
 
+        //* Decode the PEM to DER format
         const tlsCertDer = new Uint8Array(x509.PemConverter.decode(certPem)[0]);
 
-        const grpcCertificateHash = crypto.createHash('sha384').update(tlsCertDer).digest();
-
-        this.nodes[nodeAlias].grpcCertificateHash = grpcCertificateHash.toString();
+        //* Generate the SHA-384 hash
+        this.nodes[nodeAlias].grpcCertificateHash = crypto.createHash('sha384').update(tlsCertDer).digest('hex');
       }),
     );
   }
diff --git a/src/core/models/genesisNetworkNodeDataWrapper.ts b/src/core/models/genesisNetworkNodeDataWrapper.ts
index dd1fa84b5..7e18e3fa8 100644
--- a/src/core/models/genesisNetworkNodeDataWrapper.ts
+++ b/src/core/models/genesisNetworkNodeDataWrapper.ts
@@ -14,9 +14,8 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  *
  */
-import {parseIpAddressToUint8Array} from '../helpers.js';
 import type {AccountId} from '@hashgraph/sdk';
-import {type GenesisNetworkNodeStructure, type ServiceEndpoint, type ToObject} from '../../types/index.js';
+import type {GenesisNetworkNodeStructure, ServiceEndpoint, ToObject} from '../../types/index.js';
 
 export class GenesisNetworkNodeDataWrapper
   implements GenesisNetworkNodeStructure, ToObject<{node: GenesisNetworkNodeStructure}>
@@ -40,11 +39,7 @@ export class GenesisNetworkNodeDataWrapper
    * @param port
    */
   public addServiceEndpoint(domainName: string, port: number): void {
-    this.serviceEndpoint.push({
-      ipAddressV4: parseIpAddressToUint8Array(domainName),
-      domainName,
-      port,
-    });
+    this.serviceEndpoint.push({domainName, port});
   }
 
   /**
@@ -52,11 +47,7 @@ export class GenesisNetworkNodeDataWrapper
    * @param port
    */
   public addGossipEndpoint(domainName: string, port: number): void {
-    this.gossipEndpoint.push({
-      ipAddressV4: parseIpAddressToUint8Array(domainName),
-      domainName,
-      port,
-    });
+    this.gossipEndpoint.push({domainName, port});
   }
 
   public toObject() {
diff --git a/src/types/index.ts b/src/types/index.ts
index 687c8c813..e0f97ba2b 100644
--- a/src/types/index.ts
+++ b/src/types/index.ts
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ export type EmptyContextConfig = object;
 export type SoloListrTaskWrapper<T> = ListrTaskWrapper<T, any, any>;
 
 export interface ServiceEndpoint {
-  ipAddressV4: Uint8Array;
+  ipAddressV4?: Uint8Array;
   port: number;
   domainName: string;
 }