diff --git a/infrastructure/zk/src/contract.ts b/infrastructure/zk/src/contract.ts
index ba9fe08041d..943248cdd5a 100644
--- a/infrastructure/zk/src/contract.ts
+++ b/infrastructure/zk/src/contract.ts
@@ -216,10 +216,12 @@ export async function erc20BridgeFinish(args: any[] = []): Promise<void> {
 
 export async function registerHyperchain({
     baseTokenName,
-    deploymentMode
+    deploymentMode,
+    allowEvmEmulator
 }: {
     baseTokenName?: string;
     deploymentMode?: DeploymentMode;
+    allowEvmEmulator?: boolean;
 }): Promise<void> {
     await utils.confirmAction();
 
@@ -241,7 +243,8 @@ export async function registerHyperchain({
         privateKey ? `--private-key ${privateKey}` : '',
         baseTokenName ? `--base-token-name ${baseTokenName}` : '',
         deploymentMode == DeploymentMode.Validium ? '--validium-mode' : '',
-        tokenMultiplierSetterAddress ? `--token-multiplier-setter-address ${tokenMultiplierSetterAddress}` : ''
+        tokenMultiplierSetterAddress ? `--token-multiplier-setter-address ${tokenMultiplierSetterAddress}` : '',
+        allowEvmEmulator ? '--allow-evm-emulation' : ''
     ];
     await utils.spawn(`yarn l1-contracts register-hyperchain ${args.join(' ')} | tee registerHyperchain.log`);
     const deployLog = fs.readFileSync('registerHyperchain.log').toString();
diff --git a/infrastructure/zk/src/init.ts b/infrastructure/zk/src/init.ts
index 6dbad67b489..fc0e550dd84 100644
--- a/infrastructure/zk/src/init.ts
+++ b/infrastructure/zk/src/init.ts
@@ -106,14 +106,19 @@ type InitHyperchainOptions = {
     baseTokenName?: string;
     localLegacyBridgeTesting?: boolean;
     deploymentMode: DeploymentMode;
+    allowEvmEmulator?: boolean;
 };
 const initHyperchain = async ({
     includePaymaster,
     baseTokenName,
     localLegacyBridgeTesting,
-    deploymentMode
+    deploymentMode,
+    allowEvmEmulator
 }: InitHyperchainOptions): Promise<void> => {
-    await announced('Registering Hyperchain', contract.registerHyperchain({ baseTokenName, deploymentMode }));
+    await announced(
+        'Registering Hyperchain',
+        contract.registerHyperchain({ baseTokenName, deploymentMode, allowEvmEmulator })
+    );
     await announced('Reloading env', env.reload());
     await announced('Running server genesis setup', server.genesisFromSources());
     await announced(
@@ -146,6 +151,7 @@ type InitDevCmdActionOptions = InitSetupOptions & {
     validiumMode?: boolean;
     localLegacyBridgeTesting?: boolean;
     shouldCheckPostgres: boolean; // Whether to perform `cargo sqlx prepare --check`
+    allowEvmEmulator?: boolean;
 };
 export const initDevCmdAction = async ({
     skipEnvSetup,
@@ -157,7 +163,8 @@ export const initDevCmdAction = async ({
     runObservability,
     validiumMode,
     localLegacyBridgeTesting,
-    shouldCheckPostgres
+    shouldCheckPostgres,
+    allowEvmEmulator
 }: InitDevCmdActionOptions): Promise<void> => {
     if (localLegacyBridgeTesting) {
         await makeEraChainIdSameAsCurrent();
@@ -181,7 +188,8 @@ export const initDevCmdAction = async ({
         includePaymaster: true,
         baseTokenName,
         localLegacyBridgeTesting,
-        deploymentMode
+        deploymentMode,
+        allowEvmEmulator
     });
     if (localLegacyBridgeTesting) {
         await makeEraAddressSameAsCurrent();
@@ -214,13 +222,15 @@ type InitHyperCmdActionOptions = {
     baseTokenName?: string;
     runObservability: boolean;
     deploymentMode: DeploymentMode;
+    allowEvmEmulator?: boolean;
 };
 export const initHyperCmdAction = async ({
     skipSetupCompletely,
     bumpChainId,
     baseTokenName,
     runObservability,
-    deploymentMode
+    deploymentMode,
+    allowEvmEmulator
 }: InitHyperCmdActionOptions): Promise<void> => {
     if (bumpChainId) {
         config.bumpChainId();
@@ -237,7 +247,8 @@ export const initHyperCmdAction = async ({
     await initHyperchain({
         includePaymaster: true,
         baseTokenName,
-        deploymentMode
+        deploymentMode,
+        allowEvmEmulator
     });
 };
 
@@ -254,6 +265,7 @@ export const initCommand = new Command('init')
         'used to test LegacyBridge compatibily. The chain will have the same id as the era chain id, while eraChainId in L2SharedBridge will be 0'
     )
     .option('--should-check-postgres', 'Whether to perform cargo sqlx prepare --check during database setup', true)
+    .option('--allow-evm-emulator', 'allow deployment of EVM contracts')
     .description('Deploys the shared bridge and registers a hyperchain locally, as quickly as possible.')
     .action(initDevCmdAction);
 
@@ -278,4 +290,5 @@ initCommand
     .option('--base-token-name <base-token-name>', 'base token name')
     .option('--validium-mode', 'deploy contracts in Validium mode')
     .option('--run-observability', 'run observability suite')
+    .option('--allow-evm-emulator', 'allow deployment of EVM contracts')
     .action(initHyperCmdAction);