diff --git a/newsfragments/2657.bugfix.rst b/newsfragments/2657.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1eda033c86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/newsfragments/2657.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Protobuf dependency breaks at version ``3.20.2`` and above; pin to ``3.20.1`` for now.
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7f45b9a96f..4a9a361bac 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
         "ipfshttpclient==0.8.0a2",
         "jsonschema>=4.0.0,<5",
         "lru-dict>=1.1.6,<2.0.0",
-        "protobuf>=3.10.0,<4",
+        "protobuf==3.20.1",
         "pywin32>=223;platform_system=='Windows'",
         "requests>=2.16.0,<3.0.0",
         # remove typing_extensions after python_requires>=3.8, see web3._utils.compat