diff --git a/bchain/bitcoinrpc.go b/bchain/bitcoinrpc.go
index 28136ed9..d83f8a81 100644
--- a/bchain/bitcoinrpc.go
+++ b/bchain/bitcoinrpc.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"time"
 
@@ -180,17 +181,13 @@ type BitcoinRPC struct {
 
 // NewBitcoinRPC returns new BitcoinRPC instance.
 func NewBitcoinRPC(url string, user string, password string, timeout time.Duration) *BitcoinRPC {
-	// set higher MaxIdleConnsPerHost to not to deplete pool of sockets
-	defaultTransportPointer, ok := http.DefaultTransport.(*http.Transport)
-	if !ok {
-		glog.Fatal("http.DefaultTransport is not an *http.Transport")
+	transport := &http.Transport{
+		Dial:                (&net.Dialer{KeepAlive: 600 * time.Second}).Dial,
+		MaxIdleConns:        100,
+		MaxIdleConnsPerHost: 100, // necessary to not to deplete ports
 	}
-	// dereference it to get a copy of the struct that the pointer points to
-	defaultTransport := *defaultTransportPointer
-	defaultTransport.MaxIdleConns = 100
-	defaultTransport.MaxIdleConnsPerHost = 100
 	return &BitcoinRPC{
-		client:   http.Client{Timeout: timeout, Transport: &defaultTransport},
+		client:   http.Client{Timeout: timeout, Transport: transport},
 		URL:      url,
 		User:     user,
 		Password: password,