diff --git a/pkg/apis/planetscale/v2/defaults.go b/pkg/apis/planetscale/v2/defaults.go
index 66386b94..6903b7d7 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/planetscale/v2/defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/planetscale/v2/defaults.go
@@ -181,5 +181,5 @@ var (
 	// DefaultEtcdImage is the image to use for etcd when the CRD doesn't specify.
 	// This value can be configured at operator startup time with the
 	// --default_etcd_image flag.
-	DefaultEtcdImage = "quay.io/coreos/etcd:v3.3.13"
+	DefaultEtcdImage = "quay.io/coreos/etcd:v3.5.9"
 )