Flaky failure in TestProcessVerkle (panic in GenerateChain) unrelated to Snap/Beacon sync

[Kannan112]

Observed an intermittent failure in TestProcessVerkle during CI.

Key points:

• The failure is related to Verkle Tries, which are still experimental.
• The panic occurs inside GenerateChain, which only generates blocks in memory.
• GenerateChain does not interact with SnapSyncComplete or the Downloader code paths.

Local verification:

• Ran TestProcessVerkle 10 times locally.
• All runs passed without failure.

Scope analysis:

• Recent changes in this PR are limited to Snap Sync and Beacon Sync behavior.
• All relevant tests for core logic, eth/catalyst, and eth/downloader pass consistently.
• No shared code paths exist between the modified areas and Verkle test execution.

Conclusion:
This appears to be a flaky test or CI-environment-specific issue rather than a regression introduced by the PR. Tracking it here for visibility and follow-up, but it is outside the scope of the Snap/Beacon sync changes.

[anumukul]

Hi, I’d like to take this issue and can deliver a fix within 24 hours.
I’ve worked on similar projects before and have relevant experience, so I should be able to handle this efficiently.

[fjl]

Please add a link to a CI failure

[gballet]

it's ok I was a able to reproduce it locally