diff --git a/pkg/network/tcp_peer.go b/pkg/network/tcp_peer.go
index 85678d297..8ff47a18c 100644
--- a/pkg/network/tcp_peer.go
+++ b/pkg/network/tcp_peer.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ const (
 	requestQueueSize   = 32
 	p2pMsgQueueSize    = 16
 	hpRequestQueueSize = 4
+	incomingQueueSize  = 1 // Each message can be up to 32MB in size.
 )
 
 var (
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ type TCPPeer struct {
 	sendQ    chan []byte
 	p2pSendQ chan []byte
 	hpSendQ  chan []byte
+	incoming chan *Message
 
 	// track outstanding getaddr requests.
 	getAddrSent atomic.Int32
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ func NewTCPPeer(conn net.Conn, s *Server) *TCPPeer {
 		sendQ:    make(chan []byte, requestQueueSize),
 		p2pSendQ: make(chan []byte, p2pMsgQueueSize),
 		hpSendQ:  make(chan []byte, hpRequestQueueSize),
+		incoming: make(chan *Message, incomingQueueSize),
 	}
 }
 
@@ -158,6 +161,7 @@ func (p *TCPPeer) handleConn() {
 	p.server.register <- p
 
 	go p.handleQueues()
+	go p.handleIncoming()
 	// When a new peer is connected we send out our version immediately.
 	err = p.SendVersion()
 	if err == nil {
@@ -172,12 +176,22 @@ func (p *TCPPeer) handleConn() {
 			} else if err != nil {
 				break
 			}
-			if err = p.server.handleMessage(p, msg); err != nil {
-				if p.Handshaked() {
-					err = fmt.Errorf("handling %s message: %w", msg.Command.String(), err)
-				}
-				break
+			p.incoming <- msg
+		}
+	}
+	close(p.incoming)
+	p.Disconnect(err)
+}
+
+func (p *TCPPeer) handleIncoming() {
+	var err error
+	for msg := range p.incoming {
+		err = p.server.handleMessage(p, msg)
+		if err != nil {
+			if p.Handshaked() {
+				err = fmt.Errorf("handling %s message: %w", msg.Command.String(), err)
 			}
+			break
 		}
 	}
 	p.Disconnect(err)