diff --git a/common/bin-common/src/logging/mod.rs b/common/bin-common/src/logging/mod.rs
index 0725ef9a5e..b5a9c68e40 100644
--- a/common/bin-common/src/logging/mod.rs
+++ b/common/bin-common/src/logging/mod.rs
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ pub fn default_tracing_env_filter() -> tracing_subscriber::filter::EnvFilter {
     } else {
         // if the env value was not found, default to `INFO` level rather than `ERROR`
         tracing_subscriber::filter::EnvFilter::builder()
-            .with_default_directive(tracing_subscriber::filter::LevelFilter::DEBUG.into())
+            .with_default_directive(tracing_subscriber::filter::LevelFilter::INFO.into())
             .parse_lossy("")
     }
 }
diff --git a/gateway/src/node/client_handling/websocket/connection_handler/authenticated.rs b/gateway/src/node/client_handling/websocket/connection_handler/authenticated.rs
index b532469b0e..e4c3c51117 100644
--- a/gateway/src/node/client_handling/websocket/connection_handler/authenticated.rs
+++ b/gateway/src/node/client_handling/websocket/connection_handler/authenticated.rs
@@ -520,6 +520,7 @@ impl<R, S> AuthenticatedHandler<R, S> {
         // apparently tungstenite auto-handles ping/pong/close messages so for now let's ignore
         // them and let's test that claim. If that's not the case, just copy code from
         // desktop nym-client websocket as I've manually handled everything there
+        tracing::debug!("[TEST TEST] Do I appear here? handle_request");
         match raw_request {
             Message::Binary(bin_msg) => Some(self.handle_binary(bin_msg).await),
             Message::Text(text_msg) => Some(self.handle_text(text_msg).await),
diff --git a/gateway/src/node/client_handling/websocket/connection_handler/fresh.rs b/gateway/src/node/client_handling/websocket/connection_handler/fresh.rs
index 4b8415e505..450376bffd 100644
--- a/gateway/src/node/client_handling/websocket/connection_handler/fresh.rs
+++ b/gateway/src/node/client_handling/websocket/connection_handler/fresh.rs
@@ -1015,19 +1015,12 @@ impl<R, S> FreshHandler<R, S> {
         R: CryptoRng + RngCore + Send,
     {
         while !shutdown.is_shutdown() {
-            let current_span = tracing::Span::current();
             let req = tokio::select! {
                 biased;
                 _ = shutdown.recv() => {
-                    let _shutdown_span = tracing::span!(parent: current_span, tracing::Level::DEBUG, "shutdown");
-                    let _span_guard = _shutdown_span.enter();
                     return None
                 },
-                req = self.wait_for_initial_message() => {
-                    let _msg_span = tracing::span!(parent: current_span, tracing::Level::DEBUG, "initial_message");
-                    let _span_guard = _msg_span.enter();
-                    req
-                },
+                req = self.wait_for_initial_message() => req,
             };
 
             let initial_request = match req {