diff --git a/src/chainparamsbase.cpp b/src/chainparamsbase.cpp
index ed62659a7e..b3fd738fd7 100644
--- a/src/chainparamsbase.cpp
+++ b/src/chainparamsbase.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ class CBaseMainParams : public CBaseChainParams
     {
         networkID = CBaseChainParams::MAIN;
         nRPCPort = 8332;
+        strDataDir = "alphamain";
     }
 };
 static CBaseMainParams mainParams;
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ void SelectBaseParams(CBaseChainParams::Network network)
 CBaseChainParams::Network NetworkIdFromCommandLine()
 {
     bool fRegTest = GetBoolArg("-regtest", false);
-    bool fTestNet = GetBoolArg("-testnet", false);
+    bool fTestNet = GetBoolArg("-testnet", true);
 
     if (fTestNet && fRegTest)
         return CBaseChainParams::MAX_NETWORK_TYPES;
diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index 140527be82..546349ef81 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -511,6 +511,10 @@ bool InitSanityCheck(void)
  */
 bool AppInit2(boost::thread_group& threadGroup)
 {
+    if (Params().NetworkIDString() == "main") {
+        return InitError("Error: Elements Alpha does not support main network.");
+    }
+
     // ********************************************************* Step 1: setup
 #ifdef _MSC_VER
     // Turn off Microsoft heap dump noise