diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 3cf5c57..58cb73e 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -202,6 +202,12 @@ Generate an identity seed and launch a gateway:
 			EnvVars: []string{"RAINBOW_IPNS_MAX_CACHE_TTL"},
 			Usage:   "Optional cap on caching duration for IPNS/DNSLink lookups. Set to 0 to respect original TTLs",
 		},
+		&cli.BoolFlag{
+			Name:    "accelerated-dht",
+			Value:   true,
+			EnvVars: []string{"RAINBOW_ACCELERATED_DHT"},
+			Usage:   "Activate the accelerated DHT client",
+		},
 	}
 
 	app.Commands = []*cli.Command{
@@ -299,6 +305,7 @@ share the same seed as long as the indexes are different.
 			InMemBlockCache:         cctx.Int64("inmem-block-cache"),
 			RoutingV1:               cctx.String("routing"),
 			DHTSharedHost:           cctx.Bool("dht-shared-host"),
+			AcceleratedDHT:          cctx.Bool("accelerated-dht"),
 			IpnsMaxCacheTTL:         cctx.Duration("ipns-max-cache-ttl"),
 			DenylistSubs:            cctx.StringSlice("denylists"),
 			Peering:                 peeringAddrs,
diff --git a/setup.go b/setup.go
index 8a4a68c..54508f2 100644
--- a/setup.go
+++ b/setup.go
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	TrustlessGatewayDomains []string
 	RoutingV1               string
 	DHTSharedHost           bool
+	AcceleratedDHT          bool
 	IpnsMaxCacheTTL         time.Duration
 
 	DenylistSubs []string
@@ -220,6 +221,8 @@ func Setup(ctx context.Context, cfg Config, key crypto.PrivKey, dnsCache *cached
 				}
 			}
 
+			var dhtRouter routing.Routing
+
 			standardClient, err := dht.New(ctx, dhtHost,
 				dht.Datastore(ds),
 				dht.BootstrapPeers(dht.GetDefaultBootstrapPeerAddrInfos()...),
@@ -229,23 +232,26 @@ func Setup(ctx context.Context, cfg Config, key crypto.PrivKey, dnsCache *cached
 				return nil, err
 			}
 
-			fullRTClient, err := fullrt.NewFullRT(dhtHost, dht.DefaultPrefix,
-				fullrt.DHTOption(
-					dht.Validator(record.NamespacedValidator{
-						"pk":   record.PublicKeyValidator{},
-						"ipns": ipns.Validator{KeyBook: h.Peerstore()},
-					}),
-					dht.Datastore(ds),
-					dht.BootstrapPeers(dht.GetDefaultBootstrapPeerAddrInfos()...),
-					dht.BucketSize(20),
-				))
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
-			}
-
-			dhtRouter := &bundledDHT{
-				standard: standardClient,
-				fullRT:   fullRTClient,
+			if cfg.AcceleratedDHT {
+				fullRTClient, err := fullrt.NewFullRT(dhtHost, dht.DefaultPrefix,
+					fullrt.DHTOption(
+						dht.Validator(record.NamespacedValidator{
+							"pk":   record.PublicKeyValidator{},
+							"ipns": ipns.Validator{KeyBook: h.Peerstore()},
+						}),
+						dht.Datastore(ds),
+						dht.BootstrapPeers(dht.GetDefaultBootstrapPeerAddrInfos()...),
+						dht.BucketSize(20),
+					))
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				dhtRouter = &bundledDHT{
+					standard: standardClient,
+					fullRT:   fullRTClient,
+				}
+			} else {
+				dhtRouter = standardClient
 			}
 
 			// we want to also use the default HTTP routers, so wrap the FullRT client