diff --git a/blockstore/splitstore/splitstore.go b/blockstore/splitstore/splitstore.go
index 4c537788d..eabf6a3ca 100644
--- a/blockstore/splitstore/splitstore.go
+++ b/blockstore/splitstore/splitstore.go
@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@ var (
 	enableDebugLog = false
 	// set this to true if you want to track origin stack traces in the write log
 	enableDebugLogWriteTraces = false
+
+	maxMissingScanRetries = 3
 )
 
 const (
@@ -633,7 +635,7 @@ func (s *SplitStore) trackTxnRef(c cid.Cid, recursive bool) error {
 			return xerrors.Errorf("error checking hotstore for %s: %w", c, err)
 		}
 
-		// it has been deleted, signal to the vm to copy
+		// it's not there (might have been deleted), signal to the vm to copy
 		if !has {
 			log.Warnf("missing object for recursive reference to %s", c)
 			return errMissingObject
@@ -846,6 +848,7 @@ func (s *SplitStore) doCompact(curTs *types.TipSet) error {
 	startMark = time.Now()
 	walked := cid.NewSet()
 	count = 0
+	var missing []cid.Cid
 	for c := range txnRefs {
 		mark, err := markSet.Has(c)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -871,10 +874,71 @@ func (s *SplitStore) doCompact(curTs *types.TipSet) error {
 		})
 
 		if err != nil {
-			return xerrors.Errorf("error walking %s for marking: %w", c, err)
+			if xerrors.Is(err, bstore.ErrNotFound) {
+				log.Warnf("missing or incomplete object: %s", c)
+				missing = append(missing, c)
+			} else {
+				return xerrors.Errorf("error walking %s for marking: %w", c, err)
+			}
 		}
 	}
-	log.Infow("update marking set done", "took", time.Since(startMark), "marked", count)
+	log.Infow("update marking set done", "took", time.Since(startMark), "marked", count, "missing", len(missing))
+
+	// 1.2 rescan for missing objects (after waiting a minute), as they might have not been copied yet
+	//     by the vm
+	if len(missing) > 0 {
+		try := 0
+
+		log.Info("rescanning for missing objects")
+		startMark = time.Now()
+
+		for len(missing) > 0 {
+			if try > maxMissingScanRetries {
+				return xerrors.Errorf("failed to fully scan transactional refs; %d missing objects", len(missing))
+			}
+
+			// discard previous walk short-cuts
+			walked = cid.NewSet()
+			towalk := missing
+			missing = nil
+			try++
+
+			log.Infof("rescanning for %d missing objects (attempt %d)", len(towalk), try)
+			// wait a minute first for in-flight writes to complete
+			time.Sleep(time.Minute)
+
+			for _, c := range towalk {
+				// we can't reliably check the markset and short-circuit this time, we have to do full walks
+				// because the object was previously visited top-to-bottom, with root DAGs short circuiting
+				// their children.
+				// but we *can* short-circuit on the txn protection filter, as this implies that the object
+				// will be protected from purge.
+				err = s.walkObject(c, walked, func(c cid.Cid) error {
+					mark, err := s.txnProtect.Has(c)
+					if err != nil {
+						return xerrors.Errorf("error checking protected set for %s: %w", c, err)
+					}
+
+					if mark {
+						return errStopWalk
+					}
+
+					return markSet.Mark(c)
+				})
+
+				if err != nil {
+					if xerrors.Is(err, bstore.ErrNotFound) {
+						log.Warnf("missing or incomplete object: %s", c)
+						missing = append(missing, c)
+					} else {
+						return xerrors.Errorf("error walking %s for marking: %w", c, err)
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
+		log.Infow("rescanning done", "took", time.Since(startMark))
+	}
 
 	// 2. iterate through the hotstore to collect cold objects
 	log.Info("collecting cold objects")