diff --git a/libp2p/muxers/mplex/mplex.nim b/libp2p/muxers/mplex/mplex.nim
index b971c9017..c3aaa9dc7 100644
--- a/libp2p/muxers/mplex/mplex.nim
+++ b/libp2p/muxers/mplex/mplex.nim
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 ## This still needs to be implemented properly - I'm leaving it 
 ## here to not forget that this needs to be fixed ASAP.
 
-import tables, sequtils, strformat, options
+import tables, sequtils, options, strformat
 import chronos
 import coder, types, channel,
        ../../varint, 
@@ -56,33 +56,50 @@ proc newStreamInternal*(m: Mplex,
   result = newChannel(id, m.connection, initiator, name)
   m.getChannelList(initiator)[id] = result
 
-method handle*(m: Mplex): Future[void] {.async, gcsafe.} = 
+method handle*(m: Mplex) {.async, gcsafe.} = 
+  try:
     while not m.connection.closed:
-      try:
-        let (id, msgType, data) = await m.connection.readMsg()
-        let initiator = bool(ord(msgType) and 1)
-        var channel: Channel
-        if MessageType(msgType) != MessageType.New:
-          let channels = m.getChannelList(initiator)
-          if not channels.contains(id):
-            raise newMplexNoSuchChannel(id, msgType)
-          channel = channels[id]
+      let msgRes = await m.connection.readMsg()
+      if msgRes.isNone:
+        await sleepAsync(100.millis)
+        continue
 
-        case msgType:
-          of MessageType.New:
-            channel = await m.newStreamInternal(false, id, cast[string](data))
-            if not isNil(m.streamHandler):
-              await m.streamHandler(newConnection(channel))
-          of MessageType.MsgIn, MessageType.MsgOut:
-              await channel.pushTo(data)
-          of MessageType.CloseIn, MessageType.CloseOut:
-            await channel.closedByRemote()
-            m.getChannelList(initiator).del(id)
-          of MessageType.ResetIn, MessageType.ResetOut:
-            await channel.resetByRemote()
-          else: raise newMplexUnknownMsgError()
-      finally:
-        await m.connection.close()
+      let (id, msgType, data) = msgRes.get()
+      let initiator = bool(ord(msgType) and 1)
+      var channel: Channel
+      if MessageType(msgType) != MessageType.New:
+        let channels = m.getChannelList(initiator)
+        if not channels.contains(id):
+          raise newMplexNoSuchChannel(id, msgType)
+        channel = channels[id]
+
+      case msgType:
+        of MessageType.New:
+          channel = await m.newStreamInternal(false, id, cast[string](data))
+          if not isNil(m.streamHandler):
+            let handlerFut = m.streamHandler(newConnection(channel))
+            proc cleanUpChan(udata: pointer) {.gcsafe.} = 
+              if handlerFut.finished:
+                channel.close().addCallback(
+                  proc(udata: pointer) = 
+                    # TODO: is waitFor() OK here?
+                    channel.cleanUp()
+                    .addCallback(proc(udata: pointer) = 
+                      echo &"cleaned up channel {$id}")
+                )
+            handlerFut.addCallback(cleanUpChan)
+            continue
+        of MessageType.MsgIn, MessageType.MsgOut:
+            await channel.pushTo(data)
+        of MessageType.CloseIn, MessageType.CloseOut:
+          await channel.closedByRemote()
+          m.getChannelList(initiator).del(id)
+        of MessageType.ResetIn, MessageType.ResetOut:
+          await channel.resetByRemote()
+          break
+        else: raise newMplexUnknownMsgError()
+  finally:
+    await m.connection.close()
 
 proc newMplex*(conn: Connection, 
                maxChanns: uint = MaxChannels): Mplex =
@@ -94,7 +111,7 @@ proc newMplex*(conn: Connection,
 
 method newStream*(m: Mplex, name: string = ""): Future[Connection] {.async, gcsafe.} =
   let channel = await m.newStreamInternal()
-  await m.connection.writeMsg(channel.id, MessageType.New, cast[seq[byte]](toSeq(name.items)))
+  await m.connection.writeMsg(channel.id, MessageType.New, name)
   result = newConnection(channel)
 
 method close*(m: Mplex) {.async, gcsafe.} =