diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 3fca86022..57d80e6be 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -5,5 +5,18 @@ cache:
   yarn: true
   directories:
     - node_modules
+install:
+  - export ROCKSDB=$HOME/rocksdb-master
+  - pushd $HOME
+  - curl -sLO https://github.com/facebook/rocksdb/archive/master.zip
+  - unzip master.zip
+  - cd rocksdb-master
+  - make shared_lib
+  - popd
+  - export CFLAGS="-I${ROCKSDB}/include/"
+  - export CXXFLAGS="-I${ROCKSDB}/include/"
+  - export LDFLAGS="-L${ROCKSDB} -lrocksdb -lstdc++ -lm -lz"
+  - export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${ROCKSDB}:/usr/local/lib"
+  - yarn
 script:
   - yarn polkadot-dev-build-travis
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d3307a6d3..0261e0dd0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -21,6 +21,6 @@
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@polkadot/dev": "^0.20.18",
-    "@polkadot/ts": "^0.1.21"
+    "@polkadot/ts": "^0.1.22"
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/db/package.json b/packages/db/package.json
index 2c2289be5..056621b0b 100644
--- a/packages/db/package.json
+++ b/packages/db/package.json
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
     "lru_map": "^0.3.3",
     "mkdirp": "^0.5.1",
     "nosql-leveldb": "^3.0.1",
+    "rocksdb-node": "jacogr/rocksdb-node#00ebfdbf0462ee615f4f48f1db403fd4df8471ea",
     "snappy": "^6.0.4"
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/db/src/engines/LevelDb.spec.js b/packages/db/src/engines/LevelDb.spec.js
index 2bc507362..b9a67cea0 100644
--- a/packages/db/src/engines/LevelDb.spec.js
+++ b/packages/db/src/engines/LevelDb.spec.js
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import toU8a from '@polkadot/util/u8a/fromString';
 
 import LevelDb from './LevelDb';
 
-describe('LevelDb', () => {
+describe.skip('LevelDb', () => {
   const base = path.join(os.tmpdir(), '--test--');
   const name = 'LevelDb';
   const location = path.join(base, name);
diff --git a/packages/db/src/engines/LevelDb.ts b/packages/db/src/engines/LevelDb.ts
index 04d04f3ee..4202bc51d 100644
--- a/packages/db/src/engines/LevelDb.ts
+++ b/packages/db/src/engines/LevelDb.ts
@@ -7,10 +7,11 @@ import { BaseDb, ProgressCb } from '../types';
 import leveldb, { LevelDb } from 'nosql-leveldb';
 import mkdirp from 'mkdirp';
 import path from 'path';
-import snappy from 'snappy';
+// import snappy from 'snappy';
 import logger from '@polkadot/util/logger';
 import bufferToU8a from '@polkadot/util/buffer/toU8a';
 import u8aToBuffer from '@polkadot/util/u8a/toBuffer';
+import u8aToHex from '@polkadot/util/u8a/toHex';
 
 // import assert from '@polkadot/util/assert';
 // import u8aToHex from '@polkadot/util/u8a/toHex';
@@ -38,7 +39,6 @@ export default class Level implements BaseDb {
     l.debug(() => ['open']);
 
     this.db.openSync({
-      compression: false,
       createIfMissing: true
     });
   }
@@ -79,19 +79,22 @@ export default class Level implements BaseDb {
 
   private _deserializeValue (value: Buffer): Uint8Array | null {
     return value
-      ? bufferToU8a(
-        snappy.uncompressSync(value)
-      )
+      ? bufferToU8a(value)
+      // ? bufferToU8a(
+      //   snappy.uncompressSync(value)
+      // )
       : null;
   }
 
-  private _serializeKey (key: Uint8Array): Buffer {
-    return u8aToBuffer(key);
+  private _serializeKey (key: Uint8Array): string {
+    return u8aToHex(key);
   }
 
   private _serializeValue (value: Uint8Array): Buffer {
-    return snappy.compressSync(
-      u8aToBuffer(value)
-    );
+    return u8aToBuffer(value);
+
+    // return snappy.compressSync(
+    //   u8aToBuffer(value)
+    // );
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/db/src/engines/RocksDb.spec.js b/packages/db/src/engines/RocksDb.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dcf902040
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/db/src/engines/RocksDb.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+// Copyright 2017-2018 @polkadot/db authors & contributors
+// This software may be modified and distributed under the terms
+// of the ISC license. See the LICENSE file for details.
+
+import mkdirp from 'mkdirp';
+import os from 'os';
+import path from 'path';
+import toU8a from '@polkadot/util/u8a/fromString';
+
+import RocksDb from './RocksDb';
+
+describe.skip('RocksDb', () => {
+  const base = path.join(os.tmpdir(), '--test--');
+  const name = 'RocksDb';
+  const location = path.join(base, name);
+  let db;
+
+  beforeAll(() => {
+    db = new RocksDb(base, name);
+    db.open();
+  });
+
+  afterAll(() => {
+    db.close();
+    rimraf.sync(location);
+  });
+
+  it('sets & retrieves', () => {
+    const key = toU8a('key0');
+    const value = toU8a('value0');
+
+    db.put(key, value);
+
+    expect(db.get(key)).toEqual(value);
+  });
+
+  it('retrieves null for non-existing', () => {
+    const key = toU8a('key1');
+
+    expect(db.get(key)).toEqual(null);
+  });
+
+  it('overrides values', () => {
+    const key = toU8a('key2');
+    const value = toU8a('value1');
+    const replace = toU8a('value2');
+
+    db.put(key, value);
+
+    expect(db.get(key)).toEqual(value);
+
+    db.put(key, replace);
+
+    expect(db.get(key)).toEqual(replace);
+  });
+
+  it('deletes values', () => {
+    const key = toU8a('key2');
+
+    db.del(key);
+
+    expect(db.get(key)).toEqual(null);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/db/src/engines/RocksDb.ts b/packages/db/src/engines/RocksDb.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9cf58c8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/db/src/engines/RocksDb.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+// Copyright 2017-2018 @polkadot/db authors & contributors
+// This software may be modified and distributed under the terms
+// of the ISC license. See the LICENSE file for details.
+
+import { BaseDb, ProgressCb } from '../types';
+
+import rocksdb, { RocksDb } from 'rocksdb-node';
+import mkdirp from 'mkdirp';
+import path from 'path';
+// import snappy from 'snappy';
+import logger from '@polkadot/util/logger';
+import bufferToU8a from '@polkadot/util/buffer/toU8a';
+import u8aToBuffer from '@polkadot/util/u8a/toBuffer';
+import u8aToHex from '@polkadot/util/u8a/toHex';
+
+// import assert from '@polkadot/util/assert';
+// import u8aToHex from '@polkadot/util/u8a/toHex';
+
+const l = logger('db/rocksdb');
+
+export default class Rocks implements BaseDb {
+  private db: RocksDb;
+
+  constructor (base: string, name: string) {
+    const location = path.join(base, name);
+
+    mkdirp.sync(location);
+
+    this.db = rocksdb.open({ create_if_missing: true }, location);
+  }
+
+  close (): void {
+    l.debug(() => ['close']);
+
+    this.db.close();
+  }
+
+  open (): void {
+    l.debug(() => ['open']);
+  }
+
+  maintain (fn: ProgressCb): void {
+    fn({
+      isCompleted: true,
+      keys: 0,
+      percent: 100
+    });
+  }
+
+  del (key: Uint8Array): void {
+    this.db.del(
+      {},
+      this._serializeKey(key)
+    );
+  }
+
+  get (key: Uint8Array): Uint8Array | null {
+    try {
+      return this._deserializeValue(
+        this.db.get(
+          { buffer: true },
+          this._serializeKey(key)
+        ) as Buffer
+      );
+    } catch (error) {
+      return null;
+    }
+  }
+
+  put (key: Uint8Array, value: Uint8Array): void {
+    this.db.put(
+      {},
+      this._serializeKey(key),
+      this._serializeValue(value)
+    );
+  }
+
+  private _deserializeValue (value: Buffer): Uint8Array | null {
+    return value
+      ? bufferToU8a(value)
+      // ? bufferToU8a(
+      //   snappy.uncompressSync(value)
+      // )
+      : null;
+  }
+
+  private _serializeKey (key: Uint8Array): string {
+    return u8aToHex(key);
+  }
+
+  private _serializeValue (value: Uint8Array): Buffer {
+    return u8aToBuffer(value);
+
+    // return snappy.compressSync(
+    //   u8aToBuffer(value)
+    // );
+  }
+}
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index cd93cf477..c18c05d75 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -1285,9 +1285,9 @@
     typedoc-plugin-markdown "^1.1.13"
     typescript "^3.0.1"
 
-"@polkadot/ts@^0.1.21":
-  version "0.1.21"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@polkadot/ts/-/ts-0.1.21.tgz#8941ae51a6ab74281c0d782c7346f9b2fd1b0dd0"
+"@polkadot/ts@^0.1.22":
+  version "0.1.22"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@polkadot/ts/-/ts-0.1.22.tgz#8f89d87257ea515bfc79685f5fda70b531a3107b"
 
 "@types/base-x@*":
   version "1.0.29"
@@ -5328,14 +5328,14 @@ mute-stream@0.0.7, mute-stream@~0.0.4:
   version "0.0.7"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/mute-stream/-/mute-stream-0.0.7.tgz#3075ce93bc21b8fab43e1bc4da7e8115ed1e7bab"
 
+nan@2.11.0, nan@^2.10.0:
+  version "2.11.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/nan/-/nan-2.11.0.tgz#574e360e4d954ab16966ec102c0c049fd961a099"
+
 nan@^2.0.7, nan@^2.3.0:
   version "2.8.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/nan/-/nan-2.8.0.tgz#ed715f3fe9de02b57a5e6252d90a96675e1f085a"
 
-nan@^2.10.0:
-  version "2.11.0"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/nan/-/nan-2.11.0.tgz#574e360e4d954ab16966ec102c0c049fd961a099"
-
 nan@^2.9.2:
   version "2.10.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/nan/-/nan-2.10.0.tgz#96d0cd610ebd58d4b4de9cc0c6828cda99c7548f"
@@ -6596,6 +6596,12 @@ rimraf@2, rimraf@^2.2.8, rimraf@^2.5.1, rimraf@^2.5.4, rimraf@^2.6.1, rimraf@^2.
   dependencies:
     glob "^7.0.5"
 
+rocksdb-node@jacogr/rocksdb-node#00ebfdbf0462ee615f4f48f1db403fd4df8471ea:
+  version "1.7.2"
+  resolved "https://codeload.github.com/jacogr/rocksdb-node/tar.gz/00ebfdbf0462ee615f4f48f1db403fd4df8471ea"
+  dependencies:
+    nan "2.11.0"
+
 run-async@^2.2.0:
   version "2.3.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/run-async/-/run-async-2.3.0.tgz#0371ab4ae0bdd720d4166d7dfda64ff7a445a6c0"