diff --git a/common/eth2/src/lib.rs b/common/eth2/src/lib.rs
index d7c25ecb82..fa3fa04783 100644
--- a/common/eth2/src/lib.rs
+++ b/common/eth2/src/lib.rs
@@ -307,6 +307,8 @@ impl BeaconNodeHttpClient {
 
         #[derive(serde::Deserialize)]
         struct Helper {
+            // TODO: remove this default once checkpointz follows the spec
+            #[serde(default = "ForkName::latest_stable")]
             version: ForkName,
             #[serde(flatten)]
             metadata: serde_json::Value,