diff --git a/src/apps/relay/RelayIngester.cpp b/src/apps/relay/RelayIngester.cpp
index c49c30c..d553f5d 100644
--- a/src/apps/relay/RelayIngester.cpp
+++ b/src/apps/relay/RelayIngester.cpp
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ void RelayServer::runIngester(ThreadPool<MsgIngester>::Thread &thr) {
                                 sendNoticeError(msg->connId, std::string("bad close: ") + e.what());
                             }
                         } else if (cmd.starts_with("NEG-")) {
+                            if (!cfg().relay__negentropy__enabled) throw herr("negentropy disabled");
+
                             try {
                                 ingesterProcessNegentropy(txn, decomp, msg->connId, arr);
                             } catch (std::exception &e) {
diff --git a/src/apps/relay/golpe.yaml b/src/apps/relay/golpe.yaml
index aecc62b..e205764 100644
--- a/src/apps/relay/golpe.yaml
+++ b/src/apps/relay/golpe.yaml
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@ config:
     default: 2
     noReload: true
 
+  - name: relay__negentropy__enabled
+    desc: "Support negentropy protocol messages"
+    default: true
   - name: relay__negentropy__maxSyncEvents
     desc: "Maximum records that sync will process before returning an error"
     default: 1000000
diff --git a/strfry.conf b/strfry.conf
index 6f9242a..e643878 100644
--- a/strfry.conf
+++ b/strfry.conf
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ relay {
     }
 
     negentropy {
+        # Support negentropy protocol messages
+        enabled = true
+
         # Maximum records that sync will process before returning an error
         maxSyncEvents = 1000000
     }