diff --git a/beacon_chain/nimbus_beacon_node.nim b/beacon_chain/nimbus_beacon_node.nim
index af6f428bc..c99f045a2 100644
--- a/beacon_chain/nimbus_beacon_node.nim
+++ b/beacon_chain/nimbus_beacon_node.nim
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ proc init*(T: type BeaconNode,
       fatal "The number of threads --numThreads cannot be negative."
       quit 1
     elif config.numThreads == 0:
-      taskpool = TaskpoolPtr.new()
+      taskpool = TaskpoolPtr.new(numThreads = min(countProcessors(), 16))
     else:
       taskpool = TaskpoolPtr.new(numThreads = config.numThreads)