diff --git a/ethereum/evmtool/README.md b/ethereum/evmtool/README.md
index a1a703f913..50db1066f3 100644
--- a/ethereum/evmtool/README.md
+++ b/ethereum/evmtool/README.md
@@ -8,13 +8,9 @@ and enclosing data structures.
 Using EVM Tool in execution-specification-tests
 -----------------------------------------------
 
-To use EVM Tool in Execution Spec tests it is recommended that you use
-the GraalVM build, as the framework incurs significant startup penalties
-for each invocation when run via the Java runtime.
-
 ### Building Execution Tests on macOS
 
-Current as of 24 Jun 2023.
+Current as of 26 Jun 2024.
 
 MacOS users will typically encounter two problems,one relating to the
 version of Python used and one relating to zsh.
@@ -35,7 +31,7 @@ install python packages needs to escape the brackets
 pip install -e .\[docs,lint,test\]
 ```
 
-An all-in-one script, including homebrew, would look like
+An all-in-one script, using homebrew, would look like
 
 ```zsh
 brew install ethereum solidity
@@ -43,85 +39,56 @@ git clone https://github.com/ethereum/execution-spec-tests
 cd execution-spec-tests
 python3 -m venv ./venv/
 source ./venv/bin/activate
-pip install -e .[docs,lint,test]
+pip install -e .\[docs,lint,test\]
 ```
 
-### Building EvmTool with GraalVM on macOS
+### Building EvmTool on macOS
 
-First you need a GraalVM JDK installed, if not already installed.
+First you need a Java 21+ JDK installed, if not already installed.
 
 It is recommended you install [SDKMAN](https://sdkman.io/install) to
-manage the graalVM install, homebrew has issues with native attributes
-and code signing.
+manage the jvm install.
 
 ```zsh
-sdk install java 22.3.r17-grl 
-sdk use java 22.3.r17-grl
+sdk install java 21.0.3-tem 
+sdk use java 21.0.3-tem
 ```
 
-You can also manually install GraalVM from
-the [GraalVM website](https://www.graalvm.org/downloads)..
-
-Once GraalVM is installed you use the `nativeCompile` target.
+Once a JVM is installed you use the gradle target:
 
 ```zsh
-./gradlew nativeCompile 
+./gradlew installDist -x test
 ```
 
 The resulting binary
-is `./ethereum/evmtool/build/native/nativeCompile/evmtool`
+is `build/install/besu/bin/evmtool`
 
 If the testing repository and besu are installed in the same parent
 directory, the command to run the execution tests is
 
 ```zsh
-fill -v tests --evm-bin ../besu/ethereum/evmtool/build/install/evmtool/bin/evm 
+fill -v tests --evm-bin ../besu/build/install/besu/bin/evmtool 
 ```
 
 Assuming homebrew and SDKMan are both installed, the complete script is
 
 ```zsh
-sdk install java 22.3.r17-grl 
-sdk use java 22.3.r17-grl
+sdk install java 21.0.3-tem 
+sdk use java 21.0.3-tem
 git clone https://github.com/hyperledger/besu
 cd besu
-./gradlew nativeCompile
+./gradlew installDist -x test
 cd ..
 
 brew install ethereum solidity
+solc-select install latest
+solc-select use latest
 git clone https://github.com/ethereum/execution-spec-tests
 cd execution-spec-tests
 python3 -m venv ./venv/
 source ./venv/bin/activate
-pip install -e .[docs,lint,test]
+pip install -e .\[docs,lint,test\]
 
-fill -v tests --evm-bin ../besu/ethereum/evmtool/build/install/evmtool/bin/evm
+fill -v tests --evm-bin ../besu/build/install/besu/bin/evmtool
 ```
 
-If you don't want to use the GraalVM tool the binary that is compatible
-is generated by the `ethereum:evmtool:installdist` target and is located
-at `./ethereum/evmtool/build/install/evmtool/bin/evm`
-
-Why not GraalVM for everything?
--------------------------------
-
-Using GraalVM in execution-spec-tests results in over 20x performance
-increase in execution. It will be faster to build GraalVM from scratch
-and run the execution-spec-tests than to run just the Java version.
-
-It is demonstrably faster to run the Java version for a node.
-All the test execution gains are the result of reduced startup
-penalties. Larger benchmarks will show that performance intensive EVM
-code will be slower in GraalVM than the Java version due to the adaptive
-compiler.
-
-For contracts that execute 30 million gas in small operations it is
-often faster to run the Java EVMTool than the GraalVM EVMTool, including
-startup penalty. The execution tests focus on smaller VM tests that
-demonstrate specification conformance.
-
-We would also need to reconsider some library choices. GraalVM does not
-work with Log4J, and we would have to ban that library across Besu and
-all dependents. Libraries such as Netty also have some problematic entry
-points that interact poorly with how SLF4J needs to initialize.
-
diff --git a/ethereum/evmtool/build.gradle b/ethereum/evmtool/build.gradle
index 0d1700082f..aaddc354d5 100644
--- a/ethereum/evmtool/build.gradle
+++ b/ethereum/evmtool/build.gradle
@@ -72,16 +72,6 @@ dependencies {
 
 mainClassName = 'org.hyperledger.besu.evmtool.EvmTool'
 
-startScripts {
-  applicationName = 'evm'
-  defaultJvmOpts = [
-    "-Dsecp256k1.randomize=false"
-  ]
-  doLast {
-    unixScript.text = unixScript.text.replace('BESU_HOME', '\$APP_HOME')
-    windowsScript.text = windowsScript.text.replace('BESU_HOME', '%~dp0..')
-  }
-}
 
 // rename the top level dir from besu-<version> to besu and this makes it really
 // simple for use in docker
@@ -148,34 +138,3 @@ tasks.register('dockerUpload', Exec) {
   executable "sh"
   args "-c", cmd
 }
-
-graalvmNative {
-  binaries {
-    main {
-      sharedLibrary = false
-      buildArgs.addAll(
-        "-H:ReflectionConfigurationFiles=${projectDir}/src/main/graal/reflection-config.json",
-        "-H:AdditionalSecurityProviders=org.bouncycastle.jce.provider.BouncyCastleProvider",
-        '-H:+TraceSecurityServices'
-        )
-
-
-      // Netty drags in older versions of bouncy castle, exclude it so there are no conflicts
-      excludeConfig.put("io.netty:netty-buffer", [".*"])
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-
-configurations.nativeImageClasspath {
-  // netty statically allocates some problematic classes
-  exclude group: 'io.netty', module: 'netty-buffer'
-  exclude group: 'io.netty', module: 'netty-common'
-  exclude group: 'io.netty', module: 'netty-transport'
-
-  // keep log4j from sneaking in.  GraalVM has an aleric reaction if it sees even one class
-  exclude group: 'org.slf4j', module: 'log4j-over-slf4j:1.7.36'
-  exclude group: "log4j", module: "log4j"
-  exclude group: "org.apache.logging.log4j"
-  exclude group: 'org.bouncycastle', module: 'bcprov-jdk18on'
-}
diff --git a/ethereum/evmtool/src/main/docker/Dockerfile b/ethereum/evmtool/src/main/docker/Dockerfile
index 9d9bf4aafa..9d7b48d3cb 100644
--- a/ethereum/evmtool/src/main/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/ethereum/evmtool/src/main/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ RUN apt-get update $NO_PROXY_CACHE  && \
   apt-get -o Acquire::BrokenProxy=true -o Acquire::http::No-Cache=true -o Acquire::http::Pipeline-Depth=0 \
     --no-install-recommends -q --assume-yes install ca-certificates-java=20190909*  && \
   apt-get -o Acquire::BrokenProxy=true -o Acquire::http::No-Cache=true -o Acquire::http::Pipeline-Depth=0 \
-    --no-install-recommends -q --assume-yes install openjdk-17-jre-headless=17*  && \
+    --no-install-recommends -q --assume-yes install openjdk-21-jre-headless=21*  && \
   # Clean apt cache  \
   apt-get clean  && \
   rm -rf /var/cache/apt/archives/* /var/cache/apt/archives/partial/*  && \