diff --git a/blockmanager.go b/blockmanager.go
index c00003f0..a201d6fa 100644
--- a/blockmanager.go
+++ b/blockmanager.go
@@ -730,6 +730,10 @@ func newBlockManager(s *server) (*blockManager, error) {
 		quit:             make(chan bool),
 	}
 	bm.blockChain = btcchain.New(s.db, s.btcnet, bm.handleNotifyMsg)
+	bm.blockChain.DisableCheckpoints(cfg.DisableCheckpoints)
+	if cfg.DisableCheckpoints {
+		log.Info("[BMGR] Checkpoints are disabled")
+	}
 
 	log.Infof("[BMGR] Generating initial block node index.  This may " +
 		"take a while...")
diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index fe5260ad..6032fb53 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -39,29 +39,30 @@ var (
 //
 // See loadConfig for details on the configuration load process.
 type config struct {
-	ShowVersion    bool          `short:"V" long:"version" description:"Display version information and exit"`
-	ConfigFile     string        `short:"C" long:"configfile" description:"Path to configuration file"`
-	DataDir        string        `short:"b" long:"datadir" description:"Directory to store data"`
-	AddPeers       []string      `short:"a" long:"addpeer" description:"Add a peer to connect with at startup"`
-	ConnectPeers   []string      `long:"connect" description:"Connect only to the specified peers at startup"`
-	DisableListen  bool          `long:"nolisten" description:"Disable listening for incoming connections -- NOTE: Listening is automatically disabled if the --connect option is used or if the --proxy option is used without the --tor option"`
-	Port           string        `short:"p" long:"port" description:"Listen for connections on this port (default: 8333, testnet: 18333)"`
-	MaxPeers       int           `long:"maxpeers" description:"Max number of inbound and outbound peers"`
-	BanDuration    time.Duration `long:"banduration" description:"How long to ban misbehaving peers.  Valid time units are {s, m, h}.  Minimum 1 second"`
-	RPCUser        string        `short:"u" long:"rpcuser" description:"Username for RPC connections"`
-	RPCPass        string        `short:"P" long:"rpcpass" description:"Password for RPC connections"`
-	RPCPort        string        `short:"r" long:"rpcport" description:"Listen for JSON/RPC messages on this port"`
-	DisableRPC     bool          `long:"norpc" description:"Disable built-in RPC server -- NOTE: The RPC server is disabled by default if no rpcuser/rpcpass is specified"`
-	DisableDNSSeed bool          `long:"nodnsseed" description:"Disable DNS seeding for peers"`
-	Proxy          string        `long:"proxy" description:"Connect via SOCKS5 proxy (eg. 127.0.0.1:9050)"`
-	ProxyUser      string        `long:"proxyuser" description:"Username for proxy server"`
-	ProxyPass      string        `long:"proxypass" description:"Password for proxy server"`
-	UseTor         bool          `long:"tor" description:"Specifies the proxy server used is a Tor node"`
-	TestNet3       bool          `long:"testnet" description:"Use the test network"`
-	RegressionTest bool          `long:"regtest" description:"Use the regression test network"`
-	DbType         string        `long:"dbtype" description:"Database backend to use for the Block Chain"`
-	Profile        string        `long:"profile" description:"Enable HTTP profiling on given port -- NOTE port must be between 1024 and 65536"`
-	DebugLevel     string        `short:"d" long:"debuglevel" description:"Logging level {trace, debug, info, warn, error, critical}"`
+	ShowVersion        bool          `short:"V" long:"version" description:"Display version information and exit"`
+	ConfigFile         string        `short:"C" long:"configfile" description:"Path to configuration file"`
+	DataDir            string        `short:"b" long:"datadir" description:"Directory to store data"`
+	AddPeers           []string      `short:"a" long:"addpeer" description:"Add a peer to connect with at startup"`
+	ConnectPeers       []string      `long:"connect" description:"Connect only to the specified peers at startup"`
+	DisableListen      bool          `long:"nolisten" description:"Disable listening for incoming connections -- NOTE: Listening is automatically disabled if the --connect option is used or if the --proxy option is used without the --tor option"`
+	Port               string        `short:"p" long:"port" description:"Listen for connections on this port (default: 8333, testnet: 18333)"`
+	MaxPeers           int           `long:"maxpeers" description:"Max number of inbound and outbound peers"`
+	BanDuration        time.Duration `long:"banduration" description:"How long to ban misbehaving peers.  Valid time units are {s, m, h}.  Minimum 1 second"`
+	RPCUser            string        `short:"u" long:"rpcuser" description:"Username for RPC connections"`
+	RPCPass            string        `short:"P" long:"rpcpass" description:"Password for RPC connections"`
+	RPCPort            string        `short:"r" long:"rpcport" description:"Listen for JSON/RPC messages on this port"`
+	DisableRPC         bool          `long:"norpc" description:"Disable built-in RPC server -- NOTE: The RPC server is disabled by default if no rpcuser/rpcpass is specified"`
+	DisableDNSSeed     bool          `long:"nodnsseed" description:"Disable DNS seeding for peers"`
+	Proxy              string        `long:"proxy" description:"Connect via SOCKS5 proxy (eg. 127.0.0.1:9050)"`
+	ProxyUser          string        `long:"proxyuser" description:"Username for proxy server"`
+	ProxyPass          string        `long:"proxypass" description:"Password for proxy server"`
+	UseTor             bool          `long:"tor" description:"Specifies the proxy server used is a Tor node"`
+	TestNet3           bool          `long:"testnet" description:"Use the test network"`
+	RegressionTest     bool          `long:"regtest" description:"Use the regression test network"`
+	DisableCheckpoints bool          `long:"nocheckpoints" description:"Disable built-in checkpoints.  Don't do this unless you know what you're doing."`
+	DbType             string        `long:"dbtype" description:"Database backend to use for the Block Chain"`
+	Profile            string        `long:"profile" description:"Enable HTTP profiling on given port -- NOTE port must be between 1024 and 65536"`
+	DebugLevel         string        `short:"d" long:"debuglevel" description:"Logging level {trace, debug, info, warn, error, critical}"`
 }
 
 // btcdHomeDir returns an OS appropriate home directory for btcd.