diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index faecdda6b..1c5cc59a2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -115,29 +115,6 @@ jobs:
           HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP=1 brew install gnu-getopt
           brew link --force gnu-getopt
 
-      - name: Restore rocksdb from cache (Macos/Linux)
-        if: runner.os != 'Windows'
-        id: rocksdb-cache
-        uses: actions/cache@v4
-        with:
-          path: rocks-db-cache-${{ matrix.target.cpu }}
-          key: 'rocksdb-v2-${{ matrix.target.os }}-${{ matrix.target.cpu }}'
-
-      - name: Install rocksdb (Linux amd64)
-        # mysterious illegal instruction error if we build our own librocksdb
-        if: runner.os == 'Linux' && matrix.target.cpu == 'amd64'
-        run: |
-         sudo apt-get -q update
-         sudo apt-get install -y librocksdb-dev libpcre3-dev
-
-      - name: Build and install rocksdb (Macos)
-        if: runner.os == 'Macos'
-        run: |
-          HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP=1 brew install ccache
-          echo "/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec" >> ${GITHUB_PATH}
-          curl -O -L -s -S https://raw.githubusercontent.com/status-im/nimbus-build-system/master/scripts/build_rocksdb.sh
-          bash build_rocksdb.sh rocks-db-cache-${{ matrix.target.cpu }}
-
       - name: Restore llvm-mingw (Windows) from cache
         if: runner.os == 'Windows'
         id: windows-mingw-cache
@@ -154,7 +131,7 @@ jobs:
           path: external/dlls-${{ matrix.target.cpu }}
           # according to docu, idle caches are kept for up to 7 days
           # so change dlls# to force new cache contents (for some number #)
-          key: dlls0-${{ matrix.target.cpu }}
+          key: dlls1-${{ matrix.target.cpu }}
 
       - name: Install llvm-mingw dependency (Windows)
         if: >
@@ -179,19 +156,10 @@ jobs:
           steps.windows-dlls-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' &&
           runner.os == 'Windows'
         run: |
-          if [[ '${{ matrix.target.cpu }}' == 'amd64' ]]; then
-            ROCKSDBSUB=x64
-          else
-            ROCKSDBSUB=x86
-          fi
           DLLPATH=external/dlls-${{ matrix.target.cpu }}
           mkdir -p external
           curl -L "https://nim-lang.org/download/windeps.zip" -o external/windeps.zip
           7z x -y external/windeps.zip -o"$DLLPATH"
-          # ROCKSDB
-          curl -L "https://github.com/status-im/nimbus-deps/releases/download/nimbus-deps/nimbus-deps.zip" -o external/nimbus-deps.zip
-          7z x -y external/nimbus-deps.zip
-          cp "./$ROCKSDBSUB/librocksdb.dll" "$DLLPATH/librocksdb.dll"
 
       - name: Path to cached dependencies (Windows)
         if: >
diff --git a/.github/workflows/simulators.yml b/.github/workflows/simulators.yml
index f561dfb08..2c8914db9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/simulators.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/simulators.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ jobs:
         id: versions
         run: |
           sudo apt-get -q update
-          sudo apt-get install -y librocksdb-dev libpcre3-dev
           getHash() {
             git ls-remote "https://github.com/$1" "${2:-HEAD}" | cut -f 1
           }
@@ -66,20 +65,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - name: Restore rocksdb from cache
-        id: rocksdb-cache
-        uses: actions/cache@v4
-        with:
-          path: rocks-db-cache
-          key: 'rocksdb-v2'
-
-      - name: Build and install rocksdb
-        run: |
-          HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP=1 brew install ccache
-          echo "/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec" >> ${GITHUB_PATH}
-          curl -O -L -s -S https://raw.githubusercontent.com/status-im/nimbus-build-system/master/scripts/build_rocksdb.sh
-          bash build_rocksdb.sh rocks-db-cache
-
       - name: Get latest nimbus-build-system commit hash
         id: versions
         run: |
@@ -131,20 +116,15 @@ jobs:
           path: external/dlls
           # according to docu, idle caches are kept for up to 7 days
           # so change dlls# to force new cache contents (for some number #)
-          key: dlls0
+          key: dlls1
 
       - name: Install DLLs dependencies
         if: steps.windows-dlls-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
         run: |
-          ROCKSDBSUB=x64
           DLLPATH=external/dlls
           mkdir -p external
           curl -L "https://nim-lang.org/download/windeps.zip" -o external/windeps.zip
           7z x -y external/windeps.zip -o"$DLLPATH"
-          # ROCKSDB
-          curl -L "https://github.com/status-im/nimbus-deps/releases/download/nimbus-deps/nimbus-deps.zip" -o external/nimbus-deps.zip
-          7z x -y external/nimbus-deps.zip
-          cp "./$ROCKSDBSUB/librocksdb.dll" "$DLLPATH/librocksdb.dll"
 
       - name: Restore llvm-mingw from cache
         id: windows-mingw-cache
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4759126af..2a8725063 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -203,21 +203,16 @@ update-from-ci: | sanity-checks update-test
 	+ "$(MAKE)" --no-print-directory deps-common
 
 # builds the tools, wherever they are
-$(TOOLS): | build deps
+$(TOOLS): | build deps rocksdb
 	for D in $(TOOLS_DIRS); do [ -e "$${D}/$@.nim" ] && TOOL_DIR="$${D}" && break; done && \
 		echo -e $(BUILD_MSG) "build/$@" && \
 		$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c $(NIM_PARAMS) -o:build/$@ "$${TOOL_DIR}/$@.nim"
 
 # a phony target, because teaching `make` how to do conditional recompilation of Nim projects is too complicated
-nimbus: | build deps
+nimbus: | build deps rocksdb
 	echo -e $(BUILD_MSG) "build/$@" && \
 		$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c $(NIM_PARAMS) -d:chronicles_log_level=TRACE -o:build/$@ "nimbus/$@.nim"
 
-nimbus_rocksdb_static: | build deps rocksdb_static_deps
-	echo -e $(BUILD_MSG) "build/$@" && \
-		$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c $(NIM_PARAMS) -d:enable_rocksdb_static_linking -d:chronicles_log_level=TRACE \
-		-o:build/$@ "nimbus/nimbus.nim"
-
 # symlink
 nimbus.nims:
 	ln -s nimbus.nimble $@
@@ -226,17 +221,26 @@ nimbus.nims:
 libbacktrace:
 	+ $(MAKE) -C vendor/nim-libbacktrace --no-print-directory BUILD_CXX_LIB=0
 
-# nim-rocksdb static dependencies
-rocksdb_static_deps:
+# nim-rocksdb
+
+ifneq ($(USE_SYSTEM_ROCKSDB), 0)
+ifeq ($(OS), Windows_NT)
+rocksdb: fetch-dlls
+else
+rocksdb:
 	+ vendor/nim-rocksdb/scripts/build_static_deps.sh
+endif
+else
+rocksdb:
+endif
 
 # builds and runs the nimbus test suite
-test: | build deps
+test: | build deps rocksdb
 	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim test_rocksdb $(NIM_PARAMS) nimbus.nims
 	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim test $(NIM_PARAMS) nimbus.nims
 
 # builds and runs an EVM-related subset of the nimbus test suite
-test-evm: | build deps
+test-evm: | build deps rocksdb
 	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim test_evm $(NIM_PARAMS) nimbus.nims
 
 # Primitive reproducibility test.
@@ -334,7 +338,7 @@ t8n_test: | build deps t8n
 	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c -r $(NIM_PARAMS) -d:chronicles_default_output_device=stderr "tools/t8n/$@.nim"
 
 # builds evm state test tool
-evmstate: | build deps
+evmstate: | build deps rocksdb
 	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c $(NIM_PARAMS) "tools/evmstate/$@.nim"
 
 # builds and runs evm state tool test suite
diff --git a/config.nims b/config.nims
index e41cfa341..fb3d57271 100644
--- a/config.nims
+++ b/config.nims
@@ -156,12 +156,9 @@ switch("warning", "LockLevel:off")
 # disable nim-kzg's blst
 switch("define", "kzgExternalBlst")
 
-# RocksDB static linking is disabled by default
-when defined(enable_rocksdb_static_linking):
-
-  when defined(windows):
-    {.fatal: "RocksDB static linking is not supported on Windows".}
-
+# We lock down rocksdb to a particular version
+# TODO self-build rocksdb dll on windows
+when not defined(use_system_rocksdb) and not defined(windows):
   switch("define", "rocksdb_static_linking")
 
   # use the C++ linker profile because it's a C++ library
@@ -173,3 +170,6 @@ when defined(enable_rocksdb_static_linking):
   switch("dynlibOverride", "rocksdb")
   switch("dynlibOverride", "lz4")
   switch("dynlibOverride", "zstd")
+
+when defined(gcc):
+  switch("passc", "-Wno-error=incompatible-pointer-types")
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/nimbus/db/aristo/aristo_init/rocks_db.nim b/nimbus/db/aristo/aristo_init/rocks_db.nim
index 683570a25..f24adec5a 100644
--- a/nimbus/db/aristo/aristo_init/rocks_db.nim
+++ b/nimbus/db/aristo/aristo_init/rocks_db.nim
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 ##       ...
 ##
 {.push raises: [].}
-{.warning: "*** importing rocks DB which needs a linker library".}
 
 import
   eth/common,
diff --git a/nimbus/db/kvt/kvt_init/rocks_db.nim b/nimbus/db/kvt/kvt_init/rocks_db.nim
index de242b029..bcc5b88f0 100644
--- a/nimbus/db/kvt/kvt_init/rocks_db.nim
+++ b/nimbus/db/kvt/kvt_init/rocks_db.nim
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 ##       ...
 ##
 {.push raises: [].}
-{.warning: "*** importing rocks DB which needs a linker library".}
 
 import
   eth/common,
diff --git a/vendor/nim-rocksdb b/vendor/nim-rocksdb
index eb594e33b..e34c8e825 160000
--- a/vendor/nim-rocksdb
+++ b/vendor/nim-rocksdb
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit eb594e33b29d1475d8f1ba7819bfb7ac5fa48ea3
+Subproject commit e34c8e825cf0d9b3dfdb9bec64b7e8b05de69a24
diff --git a/vendor/nimbus-build-system b/vendor/nimbus-build-system
index cf0c9cfa4..8cdaec502 160000
--- a/vendor/nimbus-build-system
+++ b/vendor/nimbus-build-system
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit cf0c9cfa408189c6d428799bf2e9da8d0c0f7f08
+Subproject commit 8cdaec502b5a48f2514e11209f0d81a001d2a2b1