diff --git a/src/main/java/tools/jackson/databind/node/JsonNodeFactory.java b/src/main/java/tools/jackson/databind/node/JsonNodeFactory.java
index 98a138c5f5..123f0db033 100644
--- a/src/main/java/tools/jackson/databind/node/JsonNodeFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/tools/jackson/databind/node/JsonNodeFactory.java
@@ -36,8 +36,10 @@ public class JsonNodeFactory
      * Default singleton instance that construct "standard" node instances:
      * given that this class is stateless, a globally shared singleton
      * can be used.
+     *<p>
+     * Default for 3.x is to make no changes; no normalization by default.
      */
-    public final static JsonNodeFactory instance = decimalsNormalized;
+    public final static JsonNodeFactory instance = decimalsAsIs;
 
     /**
      * Main constructor
diff --git a/src/test/java/tools/jackson/databind/node/JsonNodeFactoryTest.java b/src/test/java/tools/jackson/databind/node/JsonNodeFactoryTest.java
index d7c9813c59..817a2c1df2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/tools/jackson/databind/node/JsonNodeFactoryTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/tools/jackson/databind/node/JsonNodeFactoryTest.java
@@ -81,20 +81,17 @@ public void testBigDecimalNormalization() throws Exception
        final BigDecimal NON_NORMALIZED = new BigDecimal("12.5000");
        final BigDecimal NORMALIZED = NON_NORMALIZED.stripTrailingZeros();
 
-       // By default, 2.x WILL normalize
+       // By default, 2.x WILL normalize but 3.x WON'T
        JsonNode n1 = MAPPER.readTree(String.valueOf(NON_NORMALIZED));
-       assertEquals(NORMALIZED, n1.decimalValue());
+       assertEquals(NON_NORMALIZED, n1.decimalValue());
 
        // But can change
-       JsonNodeFactory nf = JsonNodeFactory.withExactBigDecimals(true);
-       JsonNode n2 = nf.numberNode(NON_NORMALIZED);
-       assertEquals(NON_NORMALIZED, n2.decimalValue());
-
+       JsonNodeFactory nf = JsonNodeFactory.withExactBigDecimals(false);
        ObjectMapper nonNormMapper = JsonMapper.builder()
                .enable(DeserializationFeature.USE_BIG_DECIMAL_FOR_FLOATS)
                .nodeFactory(nf)
                .build();
        JsonNode n3 = nonNormMapper.readTree(String.valueOf(NON_NORMALIZED));
-       assertEquals(NON_NORMALIZED, n3.decimalValue());
+       assertEquals(NORMALIZED, n3.decimalValue());
    }
 }