diff --git a/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md b/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md
index 6f594f69..ade22d21 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG_PENDING.md
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ IMPROVEMENTS:
 - [mempool] Now stores txs by hash inside of the cache, to mitigate memory leakage
 - [config] Replace db_path with db_dir from automatically generated configuration files.
   Issue reported to Cosmos SDK ([#1712](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/1712))
+- [config] Reduce default mempool size from 100k to 5k, until ABCI rechecking is implemented.
 
 BUG FIXES:
 - [mempool] No longer possible to fill up linked list without getting caching
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 51683ef0..48793f0f 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -421,8 +421,10 @@ func DefaultMempoolConfig() *MempoolConfig {
 		RecheckEmpty: true,
 		Broadcast:    true,
 		WalPath:      filepath.Join(defaultDataDir, "mempool.wal"),
-		Size:         100000,
-		CacheSize:    100000,
+		// Each signature verification takes .5ms, size reduced until we implement
+		// ABCI Recheck
+		Size:      5000,
+		CacheSize: 10000,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/consensus/mempool_test.go b/consensus/mempool_test.go
index c905f50b..81d7693f 100644
--- a/consensus/mempool_test.go
+++ b/consensus/mempool_test.go
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ func TestMempoolTxConcurrentWithCommit(t *testing.T) {
 	height, round := cs.Height, cs.Round
 	newBlockCh := subscribe(cs.eventBus, types.EventQueryNewBlock)
 
-	NTxs := 10000
+	NTxs := 3000
 	go deliverTxsRange(cs, 0, NTxs)
 
 	startTestRound(cs, height, round)