diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 36cb694de..ab1320464 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -14,4 +14,5 @@ _trial_temp/
 /tests/integration/blockchain/files
 /tests/.coverage.*
 
-/lbry/wallet/bin
\ No newline at end of file
+/lbry/blockchain/bin
+/lbry/wallet/bin
diff --git a/lbry/blockchain/__init__.py b/lbry/blockchain/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6c1cc0ec5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lbry/blockchain/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+from .sync import BlockSync
+from .lbrycrd import Lbrycrd
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lbry/blockchain/block.py b/lbry/blockchain/block.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..150cb6e14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lbry/blockchain/block.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import struct
+from lbry.crypto.hash import double_sha256
+from lbry.wallet.transaction import Transaction
+from lbry.wallet.bcd_data_stream import BCDataStream
+
+
+ZERO_BLOCK = bytes((0,)*32)
+
+
+class Block:
+
+    __slots__ = (
+        'version', 'block_hash', 'prev_block_hash',
+        'merkle_root', 'claim_trie_root', 'timestamp',
+        'bits', 'nonce', 'txs'
+    )
+
+    def __init__(self, stream):
+        stream.read_uint32()  # block size
+        header = stream.data.read(112)
+        version, = struct.unpack('<I', header[:4])
+        timestamp, bits, nonce = struct.unpack('<III', header[100:112])
+        self.version = version
+        self.block_hash = double_sha256(header)
+        self.prev_block_hash = header[4:36]
+        self.merkle_root = header[36:68]
+        self.claim_trie_root = header[68:100][::-1]
+        self.timestamp = timestamp
+        self.bits = bits
+        self.nonce = nonce
+        tx_count = stream.read_compact_size()
+        self.txs = [
+            Transaction(position=i)._deserialize(stream)
+            for i in range(tx_count)
+        ]
+
+    @property
+    def is_first_block(self):
+        return self.prev_block_hash == ZERO_BLOCK
+
+
+def read_blocks(block_file):
+    with open(block_file, 'rb') as fp:
+        stream = BCDataStream(fp=fp)
+        #while stream.read_uint32() == 4054508794:
+        while stream.read_uint32() == 3517637882:
+            yield Block(stream)
diff --git a/lbry/blockchain/db.py b/lbry/blockchain/db.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..da13737b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lbry/blockchain/db.py
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+import os
+import asyncio
+from collections import namedtuple
+
+import apsw
+
+
+DDL = """
+pragma journal_mode=WAL;
+
+create table block (
+    block_hash bytes not null,
+    previous_hash bytes not null,
+    height int
+);
+create table tx (
+    block_hash integer not null,
+    position integer not null,
+    tx_hash bytes not null
+);
+create table txi (
+    block_hash bytes not null,
+    tx_hash bytes not null,
+    txo_hash bytes not null
+);
+create table claim (
+    txo_hash bytes not null,
+    claim_hash bytes not null,
+    claim_name text not null,
+    amount integer not null,
+    height integer
+);
+create table claim_history (
+    block_hash bytes not null,
+    tx_hash bytes not null,
+    tx_position integer not null,
+    txo_hash bytes not null,
+    claim_hash bytes not null,
+    claim_name text not null,
+    action integer not null,
+    amount integer not null,
+    height integer,
+    is_spent bool
+);
+create table support (
+    block_hash bytes not null,
+    tx_hash bytes not null,
+    txo_hash bytes not null,
+    claim_hash bytes not null,
+    amount integer not null
+);
+"""
+
+
+class BlockchainDB:
+
+    __slots__ = 'db', 'directory'
+
+    def __init__(self, path: str):
+        self.db = None
+        self.directory = path
+
+    def open(self):
+        self.db = apsw.Connection(
+            os.path.join(self.directory, 'blockchain.db'),
+            flags=(
+                apsw.SQLITE_OPEN_READWRITE |
+                apsw.SQLITE_OPEN_CREATE |
+                apsw.SQLITE_OPEN_URI
+            )
+        )
+        def exec_factory(cursor, statement, bindings):
+            tpl = namedtuple('row', (d[0] for d in cursor.getdescription()))
+            cursor.setrowtrace(lambda cursor, row: tpl(*row))
+            return True
+        self.db.setexectrace(exec_factory)
+        self.execute(DDL)
+        self.execute(f"ATTACH {os.path.join(self._db_path, 'block_index.sqlite')} AS block_index")
+
+    def close(self):
+        if self.db is not None:
+            self.db.close()
+
+    def execute(self, *args):
+        return self.db.cursor().execute(*args)
+
+    def executemany(self, *args):
+        return self.db.cursor().executemany(*args)
+
+    def begin(self):
+        self.execute('begin;')
+
+    def commit(self):
+        self.execute('commit;')
+
+    def get_blocks(self):
+        pass
+
+
+class AsyncBlockchainDB:
+
+    __slots__ = 'db',
+
+    def __init__(self, db: BlockchainDB):
+        self.db = db
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_path(cls, path: str):
+        return cls(BlockchainDB(path))
+
+    @staticmethod
+    async def run_in_executor(func, *args):
+        return await asyncio.get_running_loop().run_in_executor(
+            None, func, *args
+        )
+
+    async def open(self):
+        return await self.run_in_executor(self.db.open)
+
+    async def close(self):
+        return await self.run_in_executor(self.db.close)
+
+    async def get_blocks(self):
+        return await self.run_in_executor(self.db.get_blocks)
diff --git a/lbry/blockchain/lbrycrd.py b/lbry/blockchain/lbrycrd.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5f5d94428
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lbry/blockchain/lbrycrd.py
@@ -0,0 +1,208 @@
+import os
+import struct
+import shutil
+import asyncio
+import logging
+import zipfile
+import tempfile
+import urllib.request
+from typing import Optional
+from binascii import hexlify
+
+import aiohttp
+import zmq
+import zmq.asyncio
+
+from lbry.wallet.stream import StreamController
+
+
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+download_url = (
+#    'https://github.com/lbryio/lbrycrd/releases/download/v0.17.4.2/lbrycrd-linux-1742.zip'
+    'https://build.lbry.io/lbrycrd/fix_flush_to_not_corrupt/lbrycrd-linux.zip'
+)
+
+
+class Process(asyncio.SubprocessProtocol):
+
+    IGNORE_OUTPUT = [
+        b'keypool keep',
+        b'keypool reserve',
+        b'keypool return',
+    ]
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.ready = asyncio.Event()
+        self.stopped = asyncio.Event()
+        self.log = log.getChild('blockchain')
+
+    def pipe_data_received(self, fd, data):
+        if self.log and not any(ignore in data for ignore in self.IGNORE_OUTPUT):
+            if b'Error:' in data:
+                self.log.error(data.decode())
+            else:
+                self.log.info(data.decode())
+        if b'Error:' in data:
+            self.ready.set()
+            raise SystemError(data.decode())
+        if b'Done loading' in data:
+            self.ready.set()
+
+    def process_exited(self):
+        self.stopped.set()
+        self.ready.set()
+
+
+class Lbrycrd:
+
+    def __init__(self, path=None):
+        self.data_path = path
+        self.bin_dir = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'bin')
+        self.daemon_bin = os.path.join(self.bin_dir, 'lbrycrdd')
+        self.cli_bin = os.path.join(self.bin_dir, 'lbrycrd-cli')
+        self.protocol = None
+        self.transport = None
+        self.hostname = 'localhost'
+        self.peerport = 9246 + 2  # avoid conflict with default peer port
+        self.rpcport = 9245 + 2  # avoid conflict with default rpc port
+        self.rpcuser = 'rpcuser'
+        self.rpcpassword = 'rpcpassword'
+        self.session: Optional[aiohttp.ClientSession] = None
+        self.subscribed = False
+        self.subscription: Optional[asyncio.Task] = None
+        self._on_block_controller = StreamController()
+        self.on_block = self._on_block_controller.stream
+        self.on_block.listen(lambda e: log.info('%s %s', hexlify(e['hash']), e['msg']))
+
+    @classmethod
+    def regtest(cls):
+        return cls(tempfile.mkdtemp())
+
+    @property
+    def rpc_url(self):
+        return f'http://{self.rpcuser}:{self.rpcpassword}@{self.hostname}:{self.rpcport}/'
+
+    @property
+    def exists(self):
+        return (
+            os.path.exists(self.cli_bin) and
+            os.path.exists(self.daemon_bin)
+        )
+
+    async def download(self):
+        downloaded_file = os.path.join(
+            self.bin_dir, download_url[download_url.rfind('/')+1:]
+        )
+
+        if not os.path.exists(self.bin_dir):
+            os.mkdir(self.bin_dir)
+
+        if not os.path.exists(downloaded_file):
+            log.info('Downloading: %s', download_url)
+            async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
+                async with session.get(download_url) as response:
+                    with open(downloaded_file, 'wb') as out_file:
+                        while True:
+                            chunk = await response.content.read(4096)
+                            if not chunk:
+                                break
+                            out_file.write(chunk)
+            with urllib.request.urlopen(download_url) as response:
+                with open(downloaded_file, 'wb') as out_file:
+                    shutil.copyfileobj(response, out_file)
+
+        log.info('Extracting: %s', downloaded_file)
+
+        with zipfile.ZipFile(downloaded_file) as dotzip:
+            dotzip.extractall(self.bin_dir)
+            # zipfile bug https://bugs.python.org/issue15795
+            os.chmod(self.cli_bin, 0o755)
+            os.chmod(self.daemon_bin, 0o755)
+
+        return self.exists
+
+    async def ensure(self):
+        return self.exists or await self.download()
+
+    async def start(self, *args):
+        loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
+        command = [
+            self.daemon_bin,
+            f'-datadir={self.data_path}', '-printtoconsole', '-regtest', '-server',
+            f'-rpcuser={self.rpcuser}', f'-rpcpassword={self.rpcpassword}', f'-rpcport={self.rpcport}',
+            f'-port={self.peerport}', '-zmqpubhashblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:29000', *args
+        ]
+        log.info(' '.join(command))
+        self.transport, self.protocol = await loop.subprocess_exec(
+            Process, *command
+        )
+        await self.protocol.ready.wait()
+        assert not self.protocol.stopped.is_set()
+        self.session = aiohttp.ClientSession()
+
+    async def stop(self, cleanup=True):
+        try:
+            await self.session.close()
+            self.transport.terminate()
+            await self.protocol.stopped.wait()
+            self.transport.close()
+        finally:
+            if cleanup:
+                await self.cleanup()
+
+    async def cleanup(self):
+        await asyncio.get_running_loop().run_in_executor(
+            None, shutil.rmtree, self.data_path, True
+        )
+
+    def subscribe(self):
+        if not self.subscribed:
+            self.subscribed = True
+            ctx = zmq.asyncio.Context.instance()
+            sock = ctx.socket(zmq.SUB)
+            sock.connect("tcp://127.0.0.1:29000")
+            sock.subscribe("hashblock")
+            self.subscription = asyncio.create_task(self.subscription_handler(sock))
+
+    async def subscription_handler(self, sock):
+        try:
+            while self.subscribed:
+                msg = await sock.recv_multipart()
+                self._on_block_controller.add({
+                    'hash': msg[1],
+                    'msg': struct.unpack('<I', msg[2])[0]
+                })
+        except asyncio.CancelledError:
+            sock.close()
+            raise
+
+    def unsubscribe(self):
+        if self.subscribed:
+            self.subscribed = False
+            self.subscription.cancel()
+            self.subscription = None
+
+    async def rpc(self, method, params=None):
+        message = {
+            "jsonrpc": "1.0",
+            "id": "1",
+            "method": method,
+            "params": params or []
+        }
+        async with self.session.post(self.rpc_url, json=message) as resp:
+            try:
+                result = await resp.json()
+            except aiohttp.ContentTypeError as e:
+                raise Exception(await resp.text()) from e
+            if not result['error']:
+                return result['result']
+            else:
+                result['error'].update(method=method, params=params)
+                raise Exception(result['error'])
+
+    async def generate(self, blocks):
+        return await self.rpc("generate", [blocks])
+
+    async def claim_name(self, name, data, amount):
+        return await self.rpc("claimname", [name, data, amount])
diff --git a/lbry/blockchain/sync.py b/lbry/blockchain/sync.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f1004b546
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lbry/blockchain/sync.py
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+import os
+import time
+import logging
+from glob import glob
+from concurrent.futures import ProcessPoolExecutor
+
+from .lbrycrd import Lbrycrd
+from .block import read_blocks
+from .db import AsyncBlockchainDB
+
+
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class BlockSync:
+
+    def __init__(self, chain: Lbrycrd):
+        self.chain = chain
+        self.db = AsyncBlockchainDB.from_path(os.path.join(self.chain.data_path, 'regtest'))
+
+    async def start(self):
+        await self.db.open()
+
+    async def stop(self):
+        await self.db.close()
+
+    async def cleanup(self):
+        pass
+
+
+def process_file(block_file):
+    blocks, txs, claims, supports, spends = [], [], [], [], []
+    for block in read_blocks(block_file):
+        for tx in block.txs:
+            txs.append((block.block_hash, tx.position, tx.hash))
+            for txi in tx.inputs:
+                if not txi.is_coinbase:
+                    spends.append((block.block_hash, tx.hash, txi.txo_ref.hash))
+            for output in tx.outputs:
+                try:
+                    if output.is_support:
+                        supports.append((
+                            block.block_hash, tx.hash, output.ref.hash, output.claim_hash, output.amount
+                        ))
+                    elif output.script.is_claim_name:
+                        claims.append((
+                            block.block_hash, tx.hash, tx.position, output.ref.hash, output.claim_hash,
+                            output.claim_name, 1, output.amount, None, None
+                        ))
+                    elif output.script.is_update_claim:
+                        claims.append((
+                            block.block_hash, tx.hash, tx.position, output.ref.hash, output.claim_hash,
+                            output.claim_name, 2, output.amount, None, None
+                        ))
+                except:
+                    pass
+        blocks.append((block.block_hash, block.prev_block_hash, 0 if block.is_first_block else None))
+
+    sql = db.get()
+
+    sql.execute('begin;')
+    sql.executemany("insert into block values (?, ?, ?)", blocks)
+    sql.execute('commit;')
+
+    sql.execute('begin;')
+    sql.executemany("insert into tx values (?, ?, ?)", txs)
+    sql.execute('commit;')
+
+    sql.execute('begin;')
+    sql.executemany("insert into txi values (?, ?, ?)", spends)
+    sql.execute('commit;')
+
+    sql.execute('begin;')
+    sql.executemany("insert into support values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)", supports)
+    sql.execute('commit;')
+
+    sql.execute('begin;')
+    sql.executemany("insert into claim_history values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)", claims)
+    sql.execute('commit;')
+
+    return len(blocks), len(txs)
+
+
+async def main():
+
+    #lbrycrd = os.path.expanduser('~/.lbrycrd/')
+
+    output_db = '/tmp/fast_sync.db'
+    if os.path.exists(output_db):
+        os.remove(output_db)
+    initializer(output_db)
+    create_db()
+    executor = ProcessPoolExecutor(
+        6, initializer=initializer, initargs=(output_db,)
+    )
+    file_paths = glob(os.path.join(lbrycrd, 'regtest', 'blocks', 'blk*.dat'))
+    file_paths.sort()
+    total_blocks, total_txs = 0, 0
+    start = time.perf_counter()
+    for file_path, (blocks, txs) in zip(file_paths, executor.map(process_file, file_paths)):
+        print(f"{file_path} {blocks}")
+        total_blocks += blocks
+        total_txs += txs
+    print(f'blocks: {total_blocks} (txs: {total_txs}) in {time.perf_counter()-start}s')
+    print('cleaning chain: set block heights and delete forks')
+    #clean_chain()
+    print(f'done in {time.perf_counter()-start}s')
+
+    await blockchain.stop()
diff --git a/scripts/generate_blockchain_test_data.py b/scripts/generate_blockchain_test_data.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..573b28f9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/generate_blockchain_test_data.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import asyncio
+from lbry.blockchain import Lbrycrd
+
+
+async def main():
+    chain = Lbrycrd.regtest()
+    print(f'Generating: {chain.data_path}')
+    await chain.ensure()
+    await chain.start()
+    chain.subscribe()
+    await chain.generate(200)
+    await chain.on_block.where(lambda e: e['msg'] == 199)
+    await chain.claim_name(f'foo', 'beef' * 4000, '0.001')
+    await chain.generate(1)
+    await chain.stop(False)
+
+    await asyncio.sleep(3)  # give lbrycrd time to stop
+
+    await chain.start('-reindex')
+    await chain.generate(1)
+    await chain.stop(False)
+
+
+asyncio.run(main())