diff --git a/build/params.go b/build/params.go
index 2545bd33a..f54491068 100644
--- a/build/params.go
+++ b/build/params.go
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ func init() {
 }
 
 // Sync
-const BadBlockCacheSize = 8192
+const BadBlockCacheSize = 1 << 15
 
 // assuming 4000 blocks per round, this lets us not lose any messages across a
 // 10 block reorg.
diff --git a/chain/blocksync/blocksync.go b/chain/blocksync/blocksync.go
index fd352a9ea..81bd1920d 100644
--- a/chain/blocksync/blocksync.go
+++ b/chain/blocksync/blocksync.go
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ func (bss *BlockSyncService) processRequest(ctx context.Context, req *BlockSyncR
 		log.Warn("encountered error while responding to block sync request: ", err)
 		return &BlockSyncResponse{
 			Status: 203,
+			Message: err.Error(),
 		}, nil
 	}
 
diff --git a/chain/gen/gen.go b/chain/gen/gen.go
index c7866c81e..fd0553f2d 100644
--- a/chain/gen/gen.go
+++ b/chain/gen/gen.go
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ func (cg *ChainGen) NextTipSetFromMiners(base *types.TipSet, miners []address.Ad
 					return nil, xerrors.Errorf("making a block for next tipset failed: %w", err)
 				}
 
-				if err := cg.cs.PersistBlockHeader(fblk.Header); err != nil {
+				if err := cg.cs.PersistBlockHeaders(fblk.Header); err != nil {
 					return nil, xerrors.Errorf("chainstore AddBlock: %w", err)
 				}
 
diff --git a/chain/messagepool.go b/chain/messagepool.go
index 63aa1bedb..7fa476b8c 100644
--- a/chain/messagepool.go
+++ b/chain/messagepool.go
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ func (mp *MessagePool) RecoverSig(msg *types.Message) *types.SignedMessage {
 	if !ok {
 		return nil
 	}
-	sig, ok := val.(*types.Signature)
+	sig, ok := val.(types.Signature)
 	if !ok {
 		log.Warnf("value in signature cache was not a signature (got %T)", val)
 		return nil
@@ -330,6 +330,6 @@ func (mp *MessagePool) RecoverSig(msg *types.Message) *types.SignedMessage {
 
 	return &types.SignedMessage{
 		Message:   *msg,
-		Signature: *sig,
+		Signature: sig,
 	}
 }
diff --git a/chain/store/store.go b/chain/store/store.go
index dcef64027..f78e24beb 100644
--- a/chain/store/store.go
+++ b/chain/store/store.go
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ func (cs *ChainStore) SetGenesis(b *types.BlockHeader) error {
 
 func (cs *ChainStore) PutTipSet(ctx context.Context, ts *types.TipSet) error {
 	for _, b := range ts.Blocks() {
-		if err := cs.PersistBlockHeader(b); err != nil {
+		if err := cs.PersistBlockHeaders(b); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
@@ -423,13 +423,17 @@ func (cs *ChainStore) AddToTipSetTracker(b *types.BlockHeader) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (cs *ChainStore) PersistBlockHeader(b *types.BlockHeader) error {
-	sb, err := b.ToStorageBlock()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
+func (cs *ChainStore) PersistBlockHeaders(b ...*types.BlockHeader) (err error) {
+	sbs := make([]block.Block, len(b))
+
+	for i, header := range b {
+		sbs[i], err = header.ToStorageBlock()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 
-	return cs.bs.Put(sb)
+	return cs.bs.PutMany(sbs)
 }
 
 type storable interface {
@@ -487,7 +491,7 @@ func (cs *ChainStore) expandTipset(b *types.BlockHeader) (*types.TipSet, error)
 }
 
 func (cs *ChainStore) AddBlock(ctx context.Context, b *types.BlockHeader) error {
-	if err := cs.PersistBlockHeader(b); err != nil {
+	if err := cs.PersistBlockHeaders(b); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
diff --git a/chain/sync.go b/chain/sync.go
index 8e62eefa3..929b967e1 100644
--- a/chain/sync.go
+++ b/chain/sync.go
@@ -755,10 +755,16 @@ func (syncer *Syncer) collectHeaders(ctx context.Context, from *types.TipSet, to
 
 	syncer.syncState.SetHeight(blockSet[len(blockSet)-1].Height())
 
+	var acceptedBlocks []cid.Cid
+
 loop:
 	for blockSet[len(blockSet)-1].Height() > untilHeight {
 		for _, bc := range at {
 			if syncer.bad.Has(bc) {
+				for _, b := range acceptedBlocks {
+					syncer.bad.Add(b)
+				}
+
 				return nil, xerrors.Errorf("chain contained block marked previously as bad (%s, %s)", from.Cids(), bc)
 			}
 		}
@@ -766,6 +772,8 @@ loop:
 		// If, for some reason, we have a suffix of the chain locally, handle that here
 		ts, err := syncer.store.LoadTipSet(at)
 		if err == nil {
+			acceptedBlocks = append(acceptedBlocks, at...)
+
 			blockSet = append(blockSet, ts)
 			at = ts.Parents()
 			continue
@@ -801,12 +809,18 @@ loop:
 			}
 			for _, bc := range b.Cids() {
 				if syncer.bad.Has(bc) {
+					for _, b := range acceptedBlocks {
+						syncer.bad.Add(b)
+					}
+
 					return nil, xerrors.Errorf("chain contained block marked previously as bad (%s, %s)", from.Cids(), bc)
 				}
 			}
 			blockSet = append(blockSet, b)
 		}
 
+		acceptedBlocks = append(acceptedBlocks, at...)
+
 		syncer.syncState.SetHeight(blks[len(blks)-1].Height())
 		at = blks[len(blks)-1].Parents()
 	}
@@ -990,13 +1004,14 @@ func (syncer *Syncer) collectChain(ctx context.Context, ts *types.TipSet) error
 
 	syncer.syncState.SetStage(api.StagePersistHeaders)
 
+	toPersist := make([]*types.BlockHeader, 0, len(headers)*build.BlocksPerEpoch)
 	for _, ts := range headers {
-		for _, b := range ts.Blocks() {
-			if err := syncer.store.PersistBlockHeader(b); err != nil {
-				return xerrors.Errorf("failed to persist synced blocks to the chainstore: %w", err)
-			}
-		}
+		toPersist = append(toPersist, ts.Blocks()...)
 	}
+	if err := syncer.store.PersistBlockHeaders(toPersist...); err != nil {
+		return xerrors.Errorf("failed to persist synced blocks to the chainstore: %w", err)
+	}
+	toPersist = nil
 
 	syncer.syncState.SetStage(api.StageMessages)
 
diff --git a/cmd/lotus/main.go b/cmd/lotus/main.go
index 38fc478ac..b9ed5fb1b 100644
--- a/cmd/lotus/main.go
+++ b/cmd/lotus/main.go
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ import (
 func main() {
 	logging.SetLogLevel("*", "INFO")
 	logging.SetLogLevel("dht", "ERROR")
-	logging.SetLogLevel("swarm", "WARN")
+	logging.SetLogLevel("swarm2", "WARN")
+	logging.SetLogLevel("bitswap", "WARN")
 
 	local := []*cli.Command{
 		DaemonCmd,