diff --git a/beacon_chain/conf.nim b/beacon_chain/conf.nim
index 876d03a45..7c7bc3c62 100644
--- a/beacon_chain/conf.nim
+++ b/beacon_chain/conf.nim
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ type
 
   StartUpCommand* = enum
     noCommand
-    createTestnet
     importValidator
+    createTestnet
     updateTestnet
 
   BeaconNodeConf* = object
diff --git a/beacon_chain/gossipsub_protocol.nim b/beacon_chain/gossipsub_protocol.nim
index 09d4eb9eb..208a9cc78 100644
--- a/beacon_chain/gossipsub_protocol.nim
+++ b/beacon_chain/gossipsub_protocol.nim
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ proc initProtocolState*(peer: GossipSubPeer, _: Peer) =
   peer.sentMessages = initSet[string]()
   peer.subscribedFor = initSet[string]()
 
+proc trySubscribing(peer: Peer, topic: string) {.gcsafe.}
+proc tryEmitting(peer: Peer, topic: string,
+                 msgId: string, msg: string): Future[void] {.gcsafe.}
+
 p2pProtocol GossipSub(version = 1,
                       shortName = "gss",
                       peerState = GossipSubPeer,
@@ -35,14 +39,10 @@ p2pProtocol GossipSub(version = 1,
     info "GossipSub Peer connected", peer
     let gossipNet = peer.networkState
     for topic, _ in gossipNet.topicSubscribers:
-      asyncCheck peer.subscribeFor(topic)
+      peer.trySubscribing(topic)
 
   onPeerDisconnected do (peer: Peer, reason: DisconnectionReason):
     info "GossipSub Peer disconnected", peer, reason
-    # TODO, add stacktraces support to nim-chronicles
-    debug "Debugging stacktrace"
-    writeStyledStackTrace()
-    debug "Continuing ..."
 
   proc subscribeFor(peer: Peer, topic: string) =
     peer.state.subscribedFor.incl topic
@@ -57,14 +57,14 @@ p2pProtocol GossipSub(version = 1,
     for p in peer.network.peers(GossipSub):
       if msgId notin p.state.sentMessages and topic in p.state.subscribedFor:
         p.state.sentMessages.incl msgId
-        asyncCheck p.emit(topic, msgId, msg)
+        asyncDiscard p.tryEmitting(topic, msgId, msg)
 
     {.gcsafe.}:
       let handler = peer.networkState.topicSubscribers.getOrDefault(topic)
       if handler != nil:
         handler(msg)
 
-proc broadcastImpl(node: EthereumNode, topic: string, msg: string): seq[Future[void]] {.gcsafe.} =
+proc broadcastIMPL(node: EthereumNode, topic: string, msg: string): seq[Future[void]] {.gcsafe.} =
   var randBytes: array[10, byte];
   if randomBytes(randBytes) != 10:
     warn "Failed to generate random message id"
@@ -74,7 +74,21 @@ proc broadcastImpl(node: EthereumNode, topic: string, msg: string): seq[Future[v
 
   for peer in node.peers(GossipSub):
     if topic in peer.state(GossipSub).subscribedFor:
-      result.add peer.emit(topic, msgId, msg)
+      result.add peer.tryEmitting(topic, msgId, msg)
+
+proc trySubscribing(peer: Peer, topic: string) =
+  var fut = peer.subscribeFor(topic)
+  fut.addCallback do (arg: pointer):
+    if fut.failed:
+      warn "Failed to subscribe to topic with GossipSub peer", topic, peer
+
+proc tryEmitting(peer: Peer, topic: string,
+                 msgId: string, msg: string): Future[void] =
+  var fut = peer.emit(topic, msgId, msg)
+  fut.addCallback do (arg: pointer):
+    if fut.failed:
+      warn "GossipSub message not delivered to Peer", peer
+  return fut
 
 proc subscribe*[MsgType](node: EthereumNode,
                          topic: string,
@@ -84,8 +98,11 @@ proc subscribe*[MsgType](node: EthereumNode,
     userHandler Json.decode(msg, MsgType)
 
   for peer in node.peers(GossipSub):
-    discard peer.subscribeFor(topic)
+    peer.trySubscribing(topic)
 
 proc broadcast*(node: EthereumNode, topic: string, msg: auto) {.async.} =
-  await all(node.broadcastImpl(topic, Json.encode(msg)))
+  # We are intentionally using `yield` here, so the broadcast call can
+  # never fail. Please note that errors are logged through a callback
+  # set in `tryEmitting`
+  yield all(node.broadcastIMPL(topic, Json.encode(msg)))
 
diff --git a/beacon_chain/sync_protocol.nim b/beacon_chain/sync_protocol.nim
index 6b6484edd..5c51cfd02 100644
--- a/beacon_chain/sync_protocol.nim
+++ b/beacon_chain/sync_protocol.nim
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ p2pProtocol BeaconSync(version = 1,
       bestRoot: Eth2Digest # TODO
       bestSlot = latestState.slot
 
-    let m = await handshake(peer, timeout = 500.milliseconds,
+    let m = await handshake(peer, timeout = 10.seconds,
                             status(networkId, latestFinalizedRoot,
                                    latestFinalizedEpoch, bestRoot, bestSlot))
 
@@ -92,34 +92,41 @@ p2pProtocol BeaconSync(version = 1,
       await peer.disconnect(UselessPeer)
       return
 
-    let bestDiff = cmp((latestFinalizedEpoch, bestSlot), (m.latestFinalizedEpoch, m.bestSlot))
-    if bestDiff == 0:
-      # Nothing to do?
-      trace "Nothing to sync", peer = peer.remote
-    else:
-      # TODO: Check for WEAK_SUBJECTIVITY_PERIOD difference and terminate the
-      # connection if it's too big.
-
-      if bestDiff > 0:
-        # Send roots
-        # TODO: Currently we send all block roots in one "packet". Maybe
-        # they should be split to multiple packets.
-        type Root = (Eth2Digest, Slot)
-        var roots = newSeqOfCap[Root](128)
-        for i in int(m.bestSlot) + 1 .. int(bestSlot):
-          for r in blockPool.blockRootsForSlot(i.Slot):
-            roots.add((r, i.Slot))
-
-        await peer.beaconBlockRoots(roots)
+    # TODO: onPeerConnected runs unconditionally for every connected peer, but we
+    # don't need to sync with everybody. The beacon node should detect a situation
+    # where it needs to sync and it should execute the sync algorithm with a certain
+    # number of randomly selected peers. The algorithm itself must be extracted in a proc.
+    try:
+      let bestDiff = cmp((latestFinalizedEpoch, bestSlot), (m.latestFinalizedEpoch, m.bestSlot))
+      if bestDiff == 0:
+        # Nothing to do?
+        trace "Nothing to sync", peer = peer.remote
       else:
-        # Receive roots
-        let roots = await peer.nextMsg(BeaconSync.beaconBlockRoots)
-        let headers = await peer.getBeaconBlockHeaders(bestRoot, bestSlot, roots.roots.len, 0)
-        var bodiesRequest = newSeqOfCap[Eth2Digest](roots.roots.len)
-        for r in roots.roots:
-          bodiesRequest.add(r[0])
-        let bodies = await peer.getBeaconBlockBodies(bodiesRequest)
-        node.importBlocks(roots.roots, headers.get.blockHeaders, bodies.get.blockBodies)
+        # TODO: Check for WEAK_SUBJECTIVITY_PERIOD difference and terminate the
+        # connection if it's too big.
+
+        if bestDiff > 0:
+          # Send roots
+          # TODO: Currently we send all block roots in one "packet". Maybe
+          # they should be split to multiple packets.
+          type Root = (Eth2Digest, Slot)
+          var roots = newSeqOfCap[Root](128)
+          for i in int(m.bestSlot) + 1 .. int(bestSlot):
+            for r in blockPool.blockRootsForSlot(i.Slot):
+              roots.add((r, i.Slot))
+
+          await peer.beaconBlockRoots(roots)
+        else:
+          # Receive roots
+          let roots = await peer.nextMsg(BeaconSync.beaconBlockRoots)
+          let headers = await peer.getBeaconBlockHeaders(bestRoot, bestSlot, roots.roots.len, 0)
+          var bodiesRequest = newSeqOfCap[Eth2Digest](roots.roots.len)
+          for r in roots.roots:
+            bodiesRequest.add(r[0])
+          let bodies = await peer.getBeaconBlockBodies(bodiesRequest)
+          node.importBlocks(roots.roots, headers.get.blockHeaders, bodies.get.blockBodies)
+    except CatchableError:
+      warn "Failed to sync with peer", peer, err = getCurrentExceptionMsg()
 
   proc status(
             peer: Peer,