diff --git a/store/iavlstore.go b/store/iavlstore.go
index 2911598033..16fb8e4f04 100644
--- a/store/iavlstore.go
+++ b/store/iavlstore.go
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ import (
 
 const (
 	defaultIAVLCacheSize  = 10000
-	defaultIAVLNumHistory = 1<<53 - 1 // DEPRECATED
+	defaultIAVLNumRecent  = 1000
+	defaultIAVLStoreEvery = 10000
 )
 
 // load the iavl store
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ func LoadIAVLStore(db dbm.DB, id CommitID) (CommitStore, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	store := newIAVLStore(tree, defaultIAVLNumHistory)
+	store := newIAVLStore(tree, defaultIAVLNumRecent, defaultIAVLStoreEvery)
 	return store, nil
 }
 
@@ -43,16 +44,17 @@ type iavlStore struct {
 
 	// How many old versions we hold onto.
 	// A value of 0 means keep all history.
-	numHistory int64
+	numRecent int64
+
+	storeEvery int64
 }
 
 // CONTRACT: tree should be fully loaded.
-// TODO: use more numHistory's, so the below nolint can be removed
-// nolint: unparam
-func newIAVLStore(tree *iavl.VersionedTree, numHistory int64) *iavlStore {
+func newIAVLStore(tree *iavl.VersionedTree, numRecent int64, storeEvery int64) *iavlStore {
 	st := &iavlStore{
 		tree:       tree,
-		numHistory: numHistory,
+		numRecent:  numRecent,
+		storeEvery: storeEvery,
 	}
 	return st
 }
@@ -67,13 +69,14 @@ func (st *iavlStore) Commit() CommitID {
 		panic(err)
 	}
 
-	// Release an old version of history
-	if st.numHistory > 0 && (st.numHistory < st.tree.Version64()) {
-		toRelease := version - st.numHistory
-		err := st.tree.DeleteVersion(toRelease)
-		if err != nil {
-			// TODO: Handle with #870
-			panic(err)
+	// Release an old version of history, if not a sync waypoint
+	if st.numRecent < st.tree.Version64() {
+		toRelease := version - st.numRecent
+		if toRelease%st.storeEvery != 0 {
+			err := st.tree.DeleteVersion(toRelease)
+			if err != nil {
+				panic(err)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/store/iavlstore_test.go b/store/iavlstore_test.go
index 50d690d908..adae84f1ab 100644
--- a/store/iavlstore_test.go
+++ b/store/iavlstore_test.go
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ import (
 
 var (
 	cacheSize        = 100
-	numHistory int64 = 5
+	numRecent  int64 = 5
+	storeEvery int64 = 3
 )
 
 var (
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ func newTree(t *testing.T, db dbm.DB) (*iavl.VersionedTree, CommitID) {
 func TestIAVLStoreGetSetHasDelete(t *testing.T) {
 	db := dbm.NewMemDB()
 	tree, _ := newTree(t, db)
-	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numHistory)
+	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numRecent, storeEvery)
 
 	key := "hello"
 
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ func TestIAVLStoreGetSetHasDelete(t *testing.T) {
 func TestIAVLIterator(t *testing.T) {
 	db := dbm.NewMemDB()
 	tree, _ := newTree(t, db)
-	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numHistory)
+	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numRecent, storeEvery)
 	iter := iavlStore.Iterator([]byte("aloha"), []byte("hellz"))
 	expected := []string{"aloha", "hello"}
 	var i int
@@ -143,7 +144,7 @@ func TestIAVLIterator(t *testing.T) {
 func TestIAVLSubspaceIterator(t *testing.T) {
 	db := dbm.NewMemDB()
 	tree, _ := newTree(t, db)
-	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numHistory)
+	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numRecent, storeEvery)
 
 	iavlStore.Set([]byte("test1"), []byte("test1"))
 	iavlStore.Set([]byte("test2"), []byte("test2"))
@@ -202,7 +203,7 @@ func TestIAVLSubspaceIterator(t *testing.T) {
 func TestIAVLReverseSubspaceIterator(t *testing.T) {
 	db := dbm.NewMemDB()
 	tree, _ := newTree(t, db)
-	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numHistory)
+	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numRecent, storeEvery)
 
 	iavlStore.Set([]byte("test1"), []byte("test1"))
 	iavlStore.Set([]byte("test2"), []byte("test2"))
@@ -261,7 +262,7 @@ func TestIAVLReverseSubspaceIterator(t *testing.T) {
 func TestIAVLStoreQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	db := dbm.NewMemDB()
 	tree := iavl.NewVersionedTree(db, cacheSize)
-	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numHistory)
+	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numRecent, storeEvery)
 
 	k1, v1 := []byte("key1"), []byte("val1")
 	k2, v2 := []byte("key2"), []byte("val2")
diff --git a/store/prefixstore_test.go b/store/prefixstore_test.go
index f57ab20e40..1961bb4bb0 100644
--- a/store/prefixstore_test.go
+++ b/store/prefixstore_test.go
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ func testPrefixStore(t *testing.T, baseStore KVStore, prefix []byte) {
 func TestIAVLStorePrefix(t *testing.T) {
 	db := dbm.NewMemDB()
 	tree := iavl.NewVersionedTree(db, cacheSize)
-	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numHistory)
+	iavlStore := newIAVLStore(tree, numRecent, storeEvery)
 
 	testPrefixStore(t, iavlStore, []byte("test"))
 }