diff --git a/PENDING.md b/PENDING.md
index 9c71a42920..589b56d4c6 100644
--- a/PENDING.md
+++ b/PENDING.md
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ IMPROVEMENTS
     * [x/stake] [#2023](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/2023) Terminate iteration loop in `UpdateBondedValidators` and `UpdateBondedValidatorsFull` when the first revoked validator is encountered and perform a sanity check.
     * [x/auth] Signature verification's gas cost now accounts for pubkey type. [#2046](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/pull/2046)
     * [x/stake] [x/slashing] Ensure delegation invariants to jailed validators [#1883](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/1883).
-
+    * [x/stake] Improve speed of GetValidator, which was shown to be a performance bottleneck. [#2046](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/pull/2200)
 * SDK
     * [tools] Make get_vendor_deps deletes `.vendor-new` directories, in case scratch files are present.
     * [cli] \#1632 Add integration tests to ensure `basecoind init && basecoind` start sequences run successfully for both `democoin` and `basecoin` examples.
diff --git a/x/stake/keeper/validator.go b/x/stake/keeper/validator.go
index b424186864..47a5d5f66f 100644
--- a/x/stake/keeper/validator.go
+++ b/x/stake/keeper/validator.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package keeper
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"container/list"
 	"fmt"
 
 	abci "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/abci/types"
@@ -11,6 +12,19 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/stake/types"
 )
 
+// Cache the amino decoding of validators, as it can be the case that repeated slashing calls
+// cause many calls to GetValidator, which were shown to throttle the state machine in our
+// simulation. Note this is quite biased though, as the simulator does more slashes than a
+// live chain should, however we require the slashing to be fast as noone pays gas for it.
+type cachedValidator struct {
+	val        types.Validator
+	marshalled string // marshalled amino bytes for the validator object (not operator address)
+}
+
+// validatorCache-key: validator amino bytes
+var validatorCache = make(map[string]cachedValidator, 500)
+var validatorCacheList = list.New()
+
 // get a single validator
 func (k Keeper) GetValidator(ctx sdk.Context, addr sdk.ValAddress) (validator types.Validator, found bool) {
 	store := ctx.KVStore(k.storeKey)
@@ -18,6 +32,28 @@ func (k Keeper) GetValidator(ctx sdk.Context, addr sdk.ValAddress) (validator ty
 	if value == nil {
 		return validator, false
 	}
+
+	// If these amino encoded bytes are in the cache, return the cached validator
+	strValue := string(value)
+	if val, ok := validatorCache[strValue]; ok {
+		valToReturn := val.val
+		// Doesn't mutate the cache's value
+		valToReturn.Operator = addr
+		return valToReturn, true
+	}
+
+	// amino bytes weren't found in cache, so amino unmarshal and add it to the cache
+	validator = types.MustUnmarshalValidator(k.cdc, addr, value)
+	cachedVal := cachedValidator{validator, strValue}
+	validatorCache[strValue] = cachedValidator{validator, strValue}
+	validatorCacheList.PushBack(cachedVal)
+
+	// if the cache is too big, pop off the last element from it
+	if validatorCacheList.Len() > 500 {
+		valToRemove := validatorCacheList.Remove(validatorCacheList.Front()).(cachedValidator)
+		delete(validatorCache, valToRemove.marshalled)
+	}
+
 	validator = types.MustUnmarshalValidator(k.cdc, addr, value)
 	return validator, true
 }