diff --git a/DOCKER/chain_install.sh b/DOCKER/chain_install.sh
index e8d2279010a23d683afb9f97e7a683341e327c03..b3964dfedf34ad65e3d1db17810ca00905de2b16 100755
--- a/DOCKER/chain_install.sh
+++ b/DOCKER/chain_install.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ if [ ! -e "${CHAIN_DIR}/config.toml" ]; then
 	ifExit "Error copying config file from $ECM_PATH to $CHAIN_DIR"
 
 	if [ "$SEED_NODE" = "" ]; then
-		SEED_NODE=$NODE_HOST
+		SEED_NODE=$P2P_HOST
 	fi
 
 	if [ "$HOST_NAME" = "" ]; then
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ fi
 if [ "$SEED_NODE" != "" ]; then
 	echo "Seed node: $SEED_NODE"
 	# NOTE the NODE_HOST must not have any slashes (no http://)
-	sed -i "s/^\(seeds\s*=\s*\).*\$/\1\"$NODE_HOST\"/" "${CHAIN_DIR}/config.toml"
+	sed -i "s/^\(seeds\s*=\s*\).*\$/\1\"$SEED_NODE\"/" "${CHAIN_DIR}/config.toml"
 	ifExit "Error setting seed node in config.toml"
 fi
 
diff --git a/DOCKER/chain_new.sh b/DOCKER/chain_new.sh
index e696429a2c8310e68d793245d3de2108cf3b725f..83503c9c16d4d7049c938fef10d0b1b82a870479 100755
--- a/DOCKER/chain_new.sh
+++ b/DOCKER/chain_new.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 echo "your new chain, kind marmot: $CHAIN_ID"
 
+# lay the genesis
+# if it exists, just overwrite the chain id
 if [ ! -f $CHAIN_DIR/genesis.json ]; then
 	if [ "$CSV" = "" ]; then
 		mintgen random --dir="$CHAIN_DIR" 1 $CHAIN_ID
@@ -26,6 +28,22 @@ else
 	cat $CHAIN_DIR/config.toml
 fi
 
+# if an address is given, keys service should have the priv key
+if [ "$REGISTER_ADDRESS" != "" ]; then
+	echo "registering $CHAIN_ID with the etcb_testnet at interblock.io from address $REGISTER_ADDRESS"
+
+	# register the genesis
+	mintx --node-addr http://interblock.io:46657/ --sign-addr http://keys:4767 --addr $REGISTER_ADDRESS name --name "$CHAIN_ID:genesis" --data $(cat $CHAIN_DIR/genesis.json) --amt 10000 --fee 0 --sign --broadcast --wait
+	ifExit "Error registering genesis with etcb_testnet"
+
+	# register the seed/s
+	mintx --node-addr http://interblock.io:46657/ --sign-addr http://keys:4767 --addr $REGISTER_ADDRESS name --name "$CHAIN_ID:seeds" --data $NEW_P2P_SEEDS --amt 10000 --fee 0 --sign --broadcast --wait
+	ifExit "Error registering seeds with etcb_testnet"
+fi
+
+# run the node.
+# TODO: maybe bring back this stopping option if we think its useful
+# tendermint node & last_pid=$! && sleep 1 && kill -KILL $last_pid
 if [ $ERISDB_API ]; then
 	echo "Running chain $CHAIN_ID (via ErisDB API)"
 	erisdb $TMROOT
diff --git a/DOCKER/start.sh b/DOCKER/start.sh
index 565163493b4f35f92d947d19c07d8ded828f3a91..fb0eed874b19cd481e0167def370f11cede04480 100755
--- a/DOCKER/start.sh
+++ b/DOCKER/start.sh
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ fi
 if [ ! $NODE_HOST ]; then
 	NODE_HOST=interblock.io:46657
 fi
+if [ ! $P2P_HOST ]; then
+	P2P_HOST=interblock.io:46656
+fi
 if [ ! $NODE_ADDR ]; then
 	NODE_ADDR=http://$NODE_HOST
 fi
@@ -92,6 +95,7 @@ export TMROOT
 export CHAIN_DIR
 export NODE_ADDR
 export NODE_HOST
+export P2P_HOST
 export ECM_PATH  # set by Dockerfile
 
 # print the version