diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f126871c..902598d0 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2250,7 +2250,7 @@ checksum = "78ca9ab1a0babb1e7d5695e3530886289c18cf2f87ec19a575a0abdce112e3a3"
 [[package]]
 name = "merk"
 version = "2.0.0"
-source = "git+https://github.com/turbofish-org/merk?rev=84261c2c0fdcc09792cede6b21ba72b6d008fea6#84261c2c0fdcc09792cede6b21ba72b6d008fea6"
+source = "git+https://github.com/turbofish-org/merk?rev=97fca3d9b8d05fb265bbd0c07100bdcddcbdfd37#97fca3d9b8d05fb265bbd0c07100bdcddcbdfd37"
 dependencies = [
  "colored",
  "ed 0.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index bb942d69..ee1f594f 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ tendermint-rpc = { version = "0.38.0", features = [
 ], optional = true }
 tendermint = { version = "0.38.0", optional = true }
 tendermint-proto = { version = "0.38.0" }
-merk = { git = "https://github.com/turbofish-org/merk", rev = "84261c2c0fdcc09792cede6b21ba72b6d008fea6", optional = true, default-features = false }
+merk = { git = "https://github.com/turbofish-org/merk", rev = "97fca3d9b8d05fb265bbd0c07100bdcddcbdfd37", optional = true, default-features = false }
 orga-macros = { path = "macros", version = "0.3.1" }
 log = "0.4.17"
 hex-literal = "0.4.1"
diff --git a/src/abci/node.rs b/src/abci/node.rs
index d53c7530..cd97c8bb 100644
--- a/src/abci/node.rs
+++ b/src/abci/node.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use crate::migrate::Migrate;
 use crate::plugins::{ABCICall, ABCIPlugin};
 use crate::query::Query;
 use crate::state::State;
-use crate::store::{BackingStore, Read, Shared, Store, Write};
+use crate::store::{BackingStore, BufStore, Read, Shared, Store, Write};
 use crate::tendermint::Child as TendermintChild;
 use crate::tendermint::Tendermint;
 use crate::{Error, Result};
@@ -354,8 +354,10 @@ impl<A: App> Node<A> {
         Context::add(crate::plugins::ChainId(chain_id.to_string()));
 
         log::info!("Migrating store data... (This might take a while)");
-        let store = Shared::new(merk_store);
-        let mut store = Store::new(BackingStore::Merk(store));
+        let store = Shared::new(BufStore::wrap(Shared::new(BufStore::wrap(Shared::new(
+            merk_store,
+        )))));
+        let mut store = Store::new(BackingStore::WrappedMerk(store));
         let bytes = store.get(&[]).unwrap().unwrap();
 
         orga::set_compat_mode(compat_mode);
@@ -374,8 +376,13 @@ impl<A: App> Node<A> {
                 [vec![version.len() as u8], version.clone()].concat(),
             )
             .unwrap();
-        if let BackingStore::Merk(merk_store) = store.into_backing_store().into_inner() {
-            let mut store = merk_store.into_inner();
+        if let BackingStore::WrappedMerk(wrapper) = store.into_backing_store().into_inner() {
+            let mut wrapper = wrapper.into_inner();
+            wrapper.flush().unwrap();
+            let mut wrapper = wrapper.into_inner().into_inner();
+            wrapper.flush().unwrap();
+            let mut store = wrapper.into_inner().into_inner();
+
             store
                 .write(vec![(b"consensus_version".to_vec(), Some(version))])
                 .unwrap();
diff --git a/src/merk/store.rs b/src/merk/store.rs
index 07fb4be1..20ea8600 100644
--- a/src/merk/store.rs
+++ b/src/merk/store.rs
@@ -53,14 +53,14 @@ impl MerkStore {
     }
 
     /// Opens a `MerkStore` at the provided path for read-only access.
-    pub fn open_readonly<P: AsRef<Path>>(home: P) -> Self {
+    pub fn open_readonly<P: AsRef<Path>>(home: P) -> Result<Self> {
         let home = home.as_ref().to_path_buf();
-        let merk = Merk::open_readonly(home.join("db")).unwrap();
+        let merk = Merk::open_readonly(home.join("db"))?;
 
         // TODO: populate snapshots, if we can do it safely concurrently with
         // other processes
 
-        MerkStore {
+        Ok(MerkStore {
             map: Some(Default::default()),
             merk: Some(merk),
             snapshots: snapshot::Snapshots::default(),
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ impl MerkStore {
             target_snapshot: None,
             restorer: None,
             mem_snapshots: BTreeMap::new(),
-        }
+        })
     }
 
     pub fn initialized<P: AsRef<Path>>(home: P) -> bool {
diff --git a/src/store/bufstore.rs b/src/store/bufstore.rs
index 83de5d88..8c96b432 100644
--- a/src/store/bufstore.rs
+++ b/src/store/bufstore.rs
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ impl<S> BufStore<S> {
         &self.store
     }
 
+    pub fn into_inner(self) -> S {
+        self.store
+    }
+
     /// Consumes the `BufStore`'s in-memory buffer and writes all of its values
     /// to the underlying store.
     ///