diff --git a/examples/lightpush_publisher_mix.nim b/examples/lightpush_publisher_mix.nim
index 607c78e12..a634c3248 100644
--- a/examples/lightpush_publisher_mix.nim
+++ b/examples/lightpush_publisher_mix.nim
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ proc setupAndPublish(rng: ref HmacDrbgContext) {.async.} =
   ).isOkOr:
     error "failed to mount waku mix protocol: ", error = $error
     return 
+  discard node.setMixBootStrapNodes()
 
   let destPeerId = PeerId.init("16Uiu2HAmPiEs2ozjjJF2iN2Pe2FYeMC9w4caRHKYdLdAfjgbWM6o").valueOr:
     error "Failed to initialize PeerId", err = error
@@ -97,8 +98,11 @@ proc setupAndPublish(rng: ref HmacDrbgContext) {.async.} =
   node.peerManager.start()
 
   notice "publisher service started"
-  while true:
-    let text = "hi there i'm a publisher using mix"
+  var numMsgs = 2
+  var i = 0
+  while i < numMsgs:
+    i = i + 1
+    let text = "hi there i'm a publisher using mix, this is msg number " & $i
     let message = WakuMessage(
       payload: toBytes(text), # content of the message
       contentTopic: LightpushContentTopic, # content topic to publish to
@@ -118,8 +122,8 @@ proc setupAndPublish(rng: ref HmacDrbgContext) {.async.} =
     else:
       error "failed to publish message", error = res.error
 
-    await sleepAsync(5000)
-    break
+    await sleepAsync(500)
+
 
 when isMainModule:
   let rng = crypto.newRng()
diff --git a/waku/node/waku_node.nim b/waku/node/waku_node.nim
index a1947c7cb..ff4045b01 100644
--- a/waku/node/waku_node.nim
+++ b/waku/node/waku_node.nim
@@ -215,39 +215,42 @@ proc mountSharding*(
   node.wakuSharding = Sharding(clusterId: clusterId, shardCountGenZero: shardCount)
   return ok()
 
-#[ proc getBootStrapMixNodes(node: WakuNode, exceptPeerID: PeerId): Table[PeerId, MixPubInfo] =
+proc getBootStrapMixNodes*(node: WakuNode): Table[PeerId, MixPubInfo] =
   var mixNodes = initTable[PeerId, MixPubInfo]()
   # MixNode Multiaddrs and PublicKeys:
-  let bootNodesMultiaddrs = ["/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60001/p2p/16Uiu2HAmPiEs2ozjjJF2iN2Pe2FYeMC9w4caRHKYdLdAfjgbWM6o",
-                             "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60002/p2p/16Uiu2HAmLtKaFaSWDohToWhWUZFLtqzYZGPFuXwKrojFVF6az5UF",
-                             "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60003/p2p/16Uiu2HAmTEDHwAziWUSz6ZE23h5vxG2o4Nn7GazhMor4bVuMXTrA",
-                             "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60004/p2p/16Uiu2HAmPwRKZajXtfb1Qsv45VVfRZgK3ENdfmnqzSrVm3BczF6f",
-                             "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60005/p2p/16Uiu2HAmRhxmCHBYdXt1RibXrjAUNJbduAhzaTHwFCZT4qWnqZAu",
-                             ]
-  let bootNodesMixPubKeys = ["9d09ce624f76e8f606265edb9cca2b7de9b41772a6d784bddaf92ffa8fba7d2c",
-                             "9231e86da6432502900a84f867004ce78632ab52cd8e30b1ec322cd795710c2a",
-                             "275cd6889e1f29ca48e5b9edb800d1a94f49f13d393a0ecf1a07af753506de6c",
-                             "e0ed594a8d506681be075e8e23723478388fb182477f7a469309a25e7076fc18",
-                             "8fd7a1a7c19b403d231452a9b1ea40eb1cc76f455d918ef8980e7685f9eeeb1f"
-                             ]
+  let bootNodesMultiaddrs = [
+    "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60001/p2p/16Uiu2HAmPiEs2ozjjJF2iN2Pe2FYeMC9w4caRHKYdLdAfjgbWM6o",
+    "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60002/p2p/16Uiu2HAmLtKaFaSWDohToWhWUZFLtqzYZGPFuXwKrojFVF6az5UF",
+    "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60003/p2p/16Uiu2HAmTEDHwAziWUSz6ZE23h5vxG2o4Nn7GazhMor4bVuMXTrA",
+    "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60004/p2p/16Uiu2HAmPwRKZajXtfb1Qsv45VVfRZgK3ENdfmnqzSrVm3BczF6f",
+    "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/60005/p2p/16Uiu2HAmRhxmCHBYdXt1RibXrjAUNJbduAhzaTHwFCZT4qWnqZAu",
+  ]
+  let bootNodesMixPubKeys = [
+    "9d09ce624f76e8f606265edb9cca2b7de9b41772a6d784bddaf92ffa8fba7d2c",
+    "9231e86da6432502900a84f867004ce78632ab52cd8e30b1ec322cd795710c2a",
+    "275cd6889e1f29ca48e5b9edb800d1a94f49f13d393a0ecf1a07af753506de6c",
+    "e0ed594a8d506681be075e8e23723478388fb182477f7a469309a25e7076fc18",
+    "8fd7a1a7c19b403d231452a9b1ea40eb1cc76f455d918ef8980e7685f9eeeb1f",
+  ]
   for index, mixNodeMultiaddr in bootNodesMultiaddrs:
     let peerIdRes = getPeerIdFromMultiAddr(mixNodeMultiaddr)
     if peerIdRes.isErr:
-       error "Failed to get peer id from multiaddress: " , error = peerIdRes.error
+      error "Failed to get peer id from multiaddress: ", error = peerIdRes.error
     let peerId = peerIdRes.get()
-    if peerID == exceptPeerID:
-      continue
-    let mixNodePubInfo = createMixPubInfo(mixNodeMultiaddr, intoCurve25519Key(ncrutils.fromHex(bootNodesMixPubKeys[index])))
+    #if (not peerID == nil) and peerID == exceptPeerID:
+    #  continue
+    let mixNodePubInfo = createMixPubInfo(
+      mixNodeMultiaddr, intoCurve25519Key(ncrutils.fromHex(bootNodesMixPubKeys[index]))
+    )
 
     mixNodes[peerId] = mixNodePubInfo
   info "using mix bootstrap nodes ", bootNodes = mixNodes
   return mixNodes
- ]#
 
 #TODO: Ideally these procs should be moved out into mix specific file, but keeping it here for now.
 proc mixPoolFilter*(cluster: Option[uint16], peer: RemotePeerInfo): bool =
   if peer.enr.isNone():
-    debug "peer has no ENR", peer = $peer
+    trace "peer has no ENR", peer = $peer
     return false
 
   if cluster.isSome() and peer.enr.get().isClusterMismatched(cluster.get()):
@@ -293,7 +296,7 @@ proc populateMixNodePool*(node: WakuNode) {.async.} =
     # TODO: use the most exposed/external multiaddr of the peer, right now using the first
     let maddrWithPeerId =
       toString(addPeerId(remotePeers[i].addrs[0], remotePeers[i].peerId))
-    debug "remote peer ENR",
+    trace "remote peer ENR",
       peerId = remotePeers[i].peerId, enr = remotePeerENR, maddr = maddrWithPeerId
 
     let peerMixPubKey = mixKey(remotePeerENR).get()
@@ -303,17 +306,19 @@ proc populateMixNodePool*(node: WakuNode) {.async.} =
 
   # set the mix node pool
   node.mix.setNodePool(mixNodes)
-  debug "mix node pool updated", poolSize = node.mix.getNodePoolSize()
+  trace "mix node pool updated", poolSize = node.mix.getNodePoolSize()
   return
 
 proc startMixNodePoolMgr*(node: WakuNode) {.async.} =
   # try more aggressively to populate the pool at startup
   var attempts = 50
+  # TODO: make initial pool size configurable
   while node.mix.getNodePoolSize() < 100 and attempts > 0:
     attempts -= 1
     discard node.populateMixNodePool()
     await sleepAsync(1.seconds)
 
+  # TODO: make interval configurable
   heartbeat "Updating mix node pool", 10.minutes:
     discard node.populateMixNodePool()