diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8e6b6a1b99..306c0e7027 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export DOCKER_BUILDKIT := 1
 export LOCALNET_MODE
 export E2E_ARGS := $(E2E_ARGS)
 export UPGRADE_HEIGHT
+export ZETACORED_IMPORT_GENESIS_DATA
 export ZETACORED_START_PERIOD := 30s
 
 clean: clean-binaries clean-dir clean-test-dir clean-coverage
@@ -266,12 +267,13 @@ start-localnet-skip-build:
 	export LOCALNET_MODE=setup-only && \
 	cd contrib/localnet/ && $(DOCKER) compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d
 
-stop-localnet:
 start-e2e-import-mainnet-test: zetanode
 	@echo "--> Starting e2e import-data test"
-	cd contrib/localnet/ && ./scripts/import-data.sh mainnet && $(DOCKER) compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose-import-data.yml up -d
+	export ZETACORED_IMPORT_GENESIS_DATA=true && \
+	export ZETACORED_START_PERIOD=10m && \
+	cd contrib/localnet/ && ./scripts/import-data.sh mainnet && $(DOCKER) compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d
 
-stop-test:
+stop-localnet:
 	cd contrib/localnet/ && $(DOCKER) compose down --remove-orphans
 
 ###############################################################################
diff --git a/contrib/localnet/docker-compose-import-data.yml b/contrib/localnet/docker-compose-import-data.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 19f4068ad5..0000000000
--- a/contrib/localnet/docker-compose-import-data.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-version: "3"
-
-# This docker-compose file configures the localnet environment
-# it contains the following services:
-# - ZetaChain with 2 nodes (zetacore0, zetacore1)
-# - A observer set with 2 clients (zetaclient0, zetaclient1)
-# - An Ethereum node (eth)
-# - A Bitcoin node (bitcoin)
-# - A Rosetta API (rosetta)
-# - An orchestrator to manage interaction with the localnet (orchestrator)
-services:
-  rosetta:
-    entrypoint: ["/root/start-rosetta.sh"]
-
-  zetacore0:
-    entrypoint: ["/root/start-zetacored.sh", "2","import-data"]
-    volumes:
-      - ~/genesis_export/:/root/genesis_data
-
-  zetacore1:
-    entrypoint: ["/root/start-zetacored.sh", "2","import-data"]
-
-  zetaclient0:
-    entrypoint: ["/root/start-zetaclientd.sh"]
-
-  zetaclient1:
-    entrypoint: ["/root/start-zetaclientd.sh"]
-
-  orchestrator:
-    entrypoint: ["/work/start-zetae2e.sh", "local"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/contrib/localnet/docker-compose.yml b/contrib/localnet/docker-compose.yml
index 5474dd66a7..1a59202d0d 100644
--- a/contrib/localnet/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/contrib/localnet/docker-compose.yml
@@ -54,8 +54,10 @@ services:
       - HOTKEY_BACKEND=file
       - HOTKEY_PASSWORD=password # test purposes only
       - ZETACORED_REPLICAS=2
+      - ZETACORED_IMPORT_GENESIS_DATA=${ZETACORED_IMPORT_GENESIS_DATA}
     volumes:
       - ssh:/root/.ssh
+      - ~/.zetacored/genesis_data:/root/genesis_data
 
   zetacore1:
     image: zetanode:latest
diff --git a/contrib/localnet/scripts/import-data.sh b/contrib/localnet/scripts/import-data.sh
index d71d5c3656..3d53077d63 100644
--- a/contrib/localnet/scripts/import-data.sh
+++ b/contrib/localnet/scripts/import-data.sh
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ fi
 
 NETWORK=$1
 echo "NETWORK: ${NETWORK}"
-rm -rf ~/genesis_export/
-mkdir ~/genesis_export/
+rm -rf ~/.zetacored/genesis_data
+mkdir ~/.zetacored/genesis_data
 echo "Download Latest State Export"
 LATEST_EXPORT_URL=$(curl https://snapshots.zetachain.com/latest-state-export | jq -r ."${NETWORK}")
 echo "LATEST EXPORT URL: ${LATEST_EXPORT_URL}"
-wget -q ${LATEST_EXPORT_URL} -O ~/genesis_export/exported-genesis.json
\ No newline at end of file
+wget -q ${LATEST_EXPORT_URL} -O ~/.zetacored/genesis_data/exported-genesis.json
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/contrib/localnet/scripts/start-zetacored.sh b/contrib/localnet/scripts/start-zetacored.sh
index fb89c5b0fc..dd8509847f 100755
--- a/contrib/localnet/scripts/start-zetacored.sh
+++ b/contrib/localnet/scripts/start-zetacored.sh
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ then
       scp $NODE:~/.zetacored/config/gentx/* ~/.zetacored/config/gentx/z2gentx/
   done
 
-  if [[ "$OPTION" == "import-data" || "$OPTION" == "import-data-upgrade" ]]; then
+  if [[ -n "$ZETACORED_IMPORT_GENESIS_DATA" ]]; then
     echo "Importing data"
     zetacored parse-genesis-file /root/genesis_data/exported-genesis.json
   fi