diff --git a/packages/apps/src/NodeInfo.tsx b/packages/apps/src/NodeInfo.tsx
index eb2b32bd43..69503a430f 100644
--- a/packages/apps/src/NodeInfo.tsx
+++ b/packages/apps/src/NodeInfo.tsx
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { I18nProps } from '@polkadot/ui-app/types';
 
 import React from 'react';
 
+import isTestChain from '@polkadot/ui-react-rx/util/isTestChain';
 import classes from '@polkadot/ui-app/util/classes';
 import keyring from '@polkadot/ui-keyring/index';
 import Chain from '@polkadot/ui-react-rx/Chain';
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ import translate from './translate';
 type Props = I18nProps & {};
 
 function updateTestInfo (chain?: string) {
-  keyring.setTestMode(chain === 'dev');
+  keyring.setTestMode(isTestChain(chain));
 }
 
 function NodeInfo ({ className, style, t }: Props) {
diff --git a/packages/ui-react-rx/src/Api/index.tsx b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/Api/index.tsx
index 3d64ce7ec4..89ac439d10 100644
--- a/packages/ui-react-rx/src/Api/index.tsx
+++ b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/Api/index.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import { EncodingVersions } from '@polkadot/params/types';
 import { ApiProps } from '../types';
 
 import React from 'react';
+
+import shouldUseLatestChain from '@polkadot/ui-react-rx/util/shouldUseLatestChain';
 import createWsProvider from '@polkadot/api-provider/ws';
 import createApi from '@polkadot/api-rx';
 import defaults from '@polkadot/api-rx/defaults';
@@ -26,9 +28,7 @@ type State = ApiProps & {
 };
 
 function apiSupport (chain?: string): EncodingVersions {
-  return chain === undefined || chain === 'poc-1'
-    ? 'poc-1'
-    : 'latest';
+  return shouldUseLatestChain(chain) ? 'latest' : 'poc-1';
 }
 
 export default class Api extends React.PureComponent<Props, State> {
diff --git a/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/isTestChain.spec.js b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/isTestChain.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4f19e43154
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/isTestChain.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+// Copyright 2017-2018 @polkadot/ui-react-rx authors & contributors
+// This software may be modified and distributed under the terms
+// of the ISC license. See the LICENSE file for details.
+
+import isTestChain from './isTestChain';
+
+describe('check chain spec to configure keyring test mode and dev accounts availability', () => {
+  it('enables test environment when chain specification matches text of dev or loc(al)', () => {
+    const validTestModeChainSpecsWithDev = ['Development disorder', 'my development', 'a devotion to'];
+    const validTestModeChainSpecsWithLoc = ['Local beer', 'one local beer', 'one good locust'];
+
+    for (let s of validTestModeChainSpecsWithDev.concat(validTestModeChainSpecsWithLoc)) {
+      expect(isTestChain(s)).toEqual(true);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('disables keyring test mode when chain specification is not a test mode or undefined or number type', () => {
+    const invalidTestModeChainSpecs = ['PoC-1 Testnet', 'Staging Testnet', 'future PoC-2 Testnet', 'a pocadot?', undefined, 0];
+
+    for (let s of invalidTestModeChainSpecs) {
+      expect(isTestChain(s)).toEqual(false);
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/isTestChain.ts b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/isTestChain.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2dd0f879ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/isTestChain.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright 2017-2018 @polkadot/ui-react-rx authors & contributors
+// This software may be modified and distributed under the terms
+// of the ISC license. See the LICENSE file for details.
+
+import isUndefined from '@polkadot/util/is/undefined';
+
+const re = new RegExp('(dev|loc)', 'i');
+
+export default function isTestChain (chain?: string): boolean {
+  if (isUndefined(chain)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const match = re.test(chain.toString().toLowerCase());
+
+  return match ? true : false;
+}
diff --git a/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/shouldUseLatestChain.spec.js b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/shouldUseLatestChain.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..26f50103ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/shouldUseLatestChain.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+// Copyright 2017-2018 @polkadot/ui-react-rx authors & contributors
+// This software may be modified and distributed under the terms
+// of the ISC license. See the LICENSE file for details.
+
+import shouldUseLatestChain from './shouldUseLatestChain';
+
+describe('check chain spec to configure encoding', () => {
+  it('enables PoC-1 encoding when chain specification is PoC-1 or undefined', () => {
+    let validChainSpecWithPoC1 = ['try poc-1 now', 'testing PoC-1 Testnet'];
+    const validChainSpecWithUndefinedOrNumber = [undefined];
+
+    for (let s of validChainSpecWithPoC1.concat(validChainSpecWithUndefinedOrNumber)) {
+      expect(shouldUseLatestChain(s)).toEqual(false);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('enables Latest encoding when chain specification is NOT PoC-1 or undefined', () => {
+    const invalidChainSpecWithoutPoC1OrUndefined = ['poc-2', 'PoC-2 Testnet', 'staging',
+      'Staging Testnet', 'Local', 'Development', ' development', 'dev', 'Local', ' local ', 'loc', 0];
+
+    for (let s of invalidChainSpecWithoutPoC1OrUndefined) {
+      expect(shouldUseLatestChain(s)).toEqual(true);
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/shouldUseLatestChain.ts b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/shouldUseLatestChain.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..376fa5fd01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ui-react-rx/src/util/shouldUseLatestChain.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright 2017-2018 @polkadot/ui-react-rx authors & contributors
+// This software may be modified and distributed under the terms
+// of the ISC license. See the LICENSE file for details.
+
+import isUndefined from '@polkadot/util/is/undefined';
+
+const re = new RegExp('(poc-1)', 'i');
+
+export default function shouldUseLatestChain (chain?: string): boolean {
+  if (isUndefined(chain)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const match = re.test(chain.toString().toLowerCase());
+
+  return match ? false : true;
+}