diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index a84ced95..31051138 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -273,7 +273,8 @@ std::string HelpMessage()
     strUsage += "  -checklevel=<n>        " + _("How thorough the block verification is (0-6, default: 1)") + "\n";
     strUsage += "  -loadblock=<file>      " + _("Imports blocks from external blk000?.dat file") + "\n";
     strUsage += "  -maxorphanblocks=<n>   " + strprintf(_("Keep at most <n> unconnectable blocks in memory (default: %u)"), DEFAULT_MAX_ORPHAN_BLOCKS) + "\n";
-    strUsage += "  -backtoblock=<n>      " + _("Rollback local block chain to block height <n>") + "\n";
+    strUsage += "  -backtoblock=<n>       " + _("Rollback local block chain to block height <n>") + "\n";
+    strUsage += "  -maxblockheight=<n>    " + _("Stop sync when block height reaches <n>") + "\n";
 
     strUsage += "\n" + _("Block creation options:") + "\n";
     strUsage += "  -blockminsize=<n>      "   + _("Set minimum block size in bytes (default: 0)") + "\n";
@@ -466,9 +467,6 @@ bool AppInit2(boost::thread_group& threadGroup)
     // Check for -debugnet (deprecated)
     if (GetBoolArg("-debugnet", false))
         InitWarning(_("Warning: Deprecated argument -debugnet ignored, use -debug=net"));
-    // Check for -socks - as this is a privacy risk to continue, exit here
-    if (mapArgs.count("-socks"))
-        return InitError(_("Error: Unsupported argument -socks found. Setting SOCKS version isn't possible anymore, only SOCKS5 proxies are supported."));
     if (fDaemon)
         fServer = true;
     else
@@ -797,14 +795,7 @@ bool AppInit2(boost::thread_group& threadGroup)
 
     // ********************************************************* Step 7: load blockchain
 
-    if (GetBoolArg("-loadblockindextest", false))
-    {
-        CTxDB txdb("r");
-        txdb.LoadBlockIndex();
-        PrintBlockTree();
-        return false;
-    }
-
+    maxBlockHeight = GetArg("-maxblockheight", -1);
     uiInterface.InitMessage(_("Loading block index..."));
 
     nStart = GetTimeMillis();
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index c7e86f6d..3bbeb0cb 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -3017,7 +3017,6 @@ void Misbehaving(NodeId pnode, int howmuch)
 bool ProcessBlock(CNode* pfrom, CBlock* pblock)
 {
     AssertLockHeld(cs_main);
-
     // Check for duplicate
     uint256 hash = pblock->GetHash();
     if (mapBlockIndex.count(hash))
@@ -3766,6 +3765,10 @@ void static ProcessGetData(CNode* pfrom)
 
 bool static ProcessMessage(CNode* pfrom, string strCommand, CDataStream& vRecv)
 {
+    // this is a snapshot node. will only sync until certain block
+    if (maxBlockHeight != -1 && pindexBest->nHeight >= maxBlockHeight) {
+        return;
+    }
     RandAddSeedPerfmon();
     LogPrint("net", "received: %s (%u bytes)\n", strCommand, vRecv.size());
     if (mapArgs.count("-dropmessagestest") && GetRand(atoi(mapArgs["-dropmessagestest"])) == 0)
diff --git a/src/masternodeman.cpp b/src/masternodeman.cpp
index 99836f51..f4d0dc60 100644
--- a/src/masternodeman.cpp
+++ b/src/masternodeman.cpp
@@ -606,6 +606,10 @@ void CMasternodeMan::ProcessMasternodeConnections()
 void CMasternodeMan::ProcessMessage(CNode* pfrom, std::string& strCommand, CDataStream& vRecv)
 {
 
+    // this is a snapshot node. will only sync until certain block
+    if (maxBlockHeight != -1 && pindexBest->nHeight >= maxBlockHeight) {
+        return;
+    }
     //Normally would disable functionality, NEED this enabled for staking.
     //if(fLiteMode) return;
 
diff --git a/src/util.cpp b/src/util.cpp
index 6459e4e7..9acdde1e 100644
--- a/src/util.cpp
+++ b/src/util.cpp
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ string strRollbackToBlock = "";
 int64_t nMasterNodeChecksDelayBaseTime = 0;
 //MasterNode peer IP advanced relay system toggle
 bool fMnAdvRelay = false;
+int maxBlockHeight = -1;
 
 // Init OpenSSL library multithreading support
 static CCriticalSection** ppmutexOpenSSL;
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index d0441e77..6ff69b78 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -151,6 +151,8 @@ extern std::string strRollbackToBlock;
 extern int64_t nMasterNodeChecksDelayBaseTime;
 //MasterNode peer IP advanced relay system toggle
 extern bool fMnAdvRelay;
+//will sync until this block height. default -1 which represents disabled
+extern int maxBlockHeight;
 
 void RandAddSeed();
 void RandAddSeedPerfmon();