diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1ebd62d026..25ba29ffb5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -59,9 +59,23 @@ ldflags = -X github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/version.Name=sim \
 		  -X github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/version.Commit=$(COMMIT) \
 		  -X "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/version.BuildTags=$(build_tags_comma_sep)"
 
+# DB backend selection
 ifeq (cleveldb,$(findstring cleveldb,$(COSMOS_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
   ldflags += -X github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/types.DBBackend=cleveldb
 endif
+ifeq (badgerdb,$(findstring badgerdb,$(COSMOS_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
+  ldflags += -X github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/types.DBBackend=badgerdb
+endif
+# handle rocksdb
+ifeq (rocksdb,$(findstring rocksdb,$(TENDERMINT_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
+  CGO_ENABLED=1
+  BUILD_TAGS += rocksdb
+endif
+# handle boltdb
+ifeq (boltdb,$(findstring boltdb,$(TENDERMINT_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
+  BUILD_TAGS += boltdb
+endif
+
 ifeq (,$(findstring nostrip,$(COSMOS_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
   ldflags += -w -s
 endif
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 47612ce131..daef4cd3fb 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -581,8 +581,6 @@ github.com/tendermint/go-amino v0.16.0 h1:GyhmgQKvqF82e2oZeuMSp9JTN0N09emoSZlb2l
 github.com/tendermint/go-amino v0.16.0/go.mod h1:TQU0M1i/ImAo+tYpZi73AU3V/dKeCoMC9Sphe2ZwGME=
 github.com/tendermint/tendermint v0.34.0-rc3 h1:d7Fsd5rdbxq4GmJ0kRfx7l7LesQM7e70f0ytWLTQ/Go=
 github.com/tendermint/tendermint v0.34.0-rc3/go.mod h1:BoHcEpjfpBHc1Be7RQz3AHaXFNObcDG7SNHCev6Or4g=
-github.com/tendermint/tendermint v0.34.0-rc3.0.20200923104252-a2bbc2984bcc h1:3XcxG8ey0/+lHnyxt/qRkZtGkpWirzYDd67z3W4aS2s=
-github.com/tendermint/tendermint v0.34.0-rc3.0.20200923104252-a2bbc2984bcc/go.mod h1:yotsojf2C1QBOw4dZrTcxbyxmPUrT4hNuOQWX9XUwB4=
 github.com/tendermint/tendermint v0.34.0-rc4 h1:fnPyDFz9QGAU6tjExoQ8ZY63eHkzdBg5StQgDoeuK0s=
 github.com/tendermint/tendermint v0.34.0-rc4/go.mod h1:yotsojf2C1QBOw4dZrTcxbyxmPUrT4hNuOQWX9XUwB4=
 github.com/tendermint/tm-db v0.6.1 h1:w3X87itMPXopcRPlFiqspEKhw4FXihPk2rnFFkP0zGk=