diff --git a/services/horizon/internal/ingest/main_test.go b/services/horizon/internal/ingest/main_test.go
index 8ae9762a35..048383f46a 100644
--- a/services/horizon/internal/ingest/main_test.go
+++ b/services/horizon/internal/ingest/main_test.go
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ func TestMaybeVerifyInternalDBErrCancelOrContextCanceled(t *testing.T) {
 	logged := done()
 
 	// it logs "State verification finished" twice, but no errors
-	assert.Len(t, logged, 2)
+	assert.Len(t, logged, 0)
 
 	historyQ.AssertExpectations(t)
 }
diff --git a/services/horizon/internal/ingest/verify.go b/services/horizon/internal/ingest/verify.go
index 56b274f706..7226118e31 100644
--- a/services/horizon/internal/ingest/verify.go
+++ b/services/horizon/internal/ingest/verify.go
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ func (s *system) verifyState(verifyAgainstLatestCheckpoint bool) error {
 	}
 	s.stateVerificationRunning = true
 	s.stateVerificationMutex.Unlock()
+	defer func() {
+		s.stateVerificationMutex.Lock()
+		s.stateVerificationRunning = false
+		s.stateVerificationMutex.Unlock()
+	}()
 
 	updateMetrics := false
 
@@ -53,24 +58,8 @@ func (s *system) verifyState(verifyAgainstLatestCheckpoint bool) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	startTime := time.Now()
 	historyQ := s.historyQ.CloneIngestionQ()
-
-	defer func() {
-		duration := time.Since(startTime).Seconds()
-		if updateMetrics {
-			// Don't update metrics if context cancelled.
-			if s.ctx.Err() != context.Canceled {
-				s.Metrics().StateVerifyDuration.Observe(float64(duration))
-			}
-		}
-		log.WithField("duration", duration).Info("State verification finished")
-		historyQ.Rollback()
-		s.stateVerificationMutex.Lock()
-		s.stateVerificationRunning = false
-		s.stateVerificationMutex.Unlock()
-	}()
-
+	defer historyQ.Rollback()
 	err := historyQ.BeginTx(&sql.TxOptions{
 		Isolation: sql.LevelRepeatableRead,
 		ReadOnly:  true,
@@ -95,31 +84,58 @@ func (s *system) verifyState(verifyAgainstLatestCheckpoint bool) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	localLog.Info("Starting state verification")
+
 	if verifyAgainstLatestCheckpoint {
-		// Get root HAS to check if we're checking one of the latest ledgers or
-		// Horizon is catching up. It doesn't make sense to verify old ledgers as
-		// we want to check the latest state.
-		var historyLatestSequence uint32
-		historyLatestSequence, err = s.historyAdapter.GetLatestLedgerSequence()
-		if err != nil {
-			return errors.Wrap(err, "Error getting the latest ledger sequence")
-		}
+		retries := 0
+		for {
+			// Get root HAS to check if we're checking one of the latest ledgers or
+			// Horizon is catching up. It doesn't make sense to verify old ledgers as
+			// we want to check the latest state.
+			var historyLatestSequence uint32
+			historyLatestSequence, err = s.historyAdapter.GetLatestLedgerSequence()
+			if err != nil {
+				return errors.Wrap(err, "Error getting the latest ledger sequence")
+			}
 
-		if ledgerSequence < historyLatestSequence {
-			localLog.Info("Current ledger is old. Cancelling...")
-			return nil
-		}
+			if ledgerSequence < historyLatestSequence {
+				localLog.Info("Current ledger is old. Cancelling...")
+				return nil
+			}
 
-		localLog.Info("Starting state verification. Waiting 40 seconds for stellar-core to publish HAS...")
-		select {
-		case <-s.ctx.Done():
-			localLog.Info("State verifier shut down...")
-			return nil
-		case <-time.After(40 * time.Second):
-			// Wait for stellar-core to publish HAS
+			if ledgerSequence == historyLatestSequence {
+				break
+			}
+
+			localLog.Info("Waiting for stellar-core to publish HAS...")
+			select {
+			case <-s.ctx.Done():
+				localLog.Info("State verifier shut down...")
+				return nil
+			case <-time.After(5 * time.Second):
+				// Wait for stellar-core to publish HAS
+				retries++
+				if retries == 12 {
+					localLog.Info("Checkpoint not published. Cancelling...")
+					return nil
+				}
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
+	startTime := time.Now()
+	defer func() {
+		duration := time.Since(startTime).Seconds()
+		if updateMetrics {
+			// Don't update metrics if context cancelled.
+			if s.ctx.Err() != context.Canceled {
+				s.Metrics().StateVerifyDuration.Observe(float64(duration))
+			}
+		}
+		log.WithField("duration", duration).Info("State verification finished")
+
+	}()
+
 	localLog.Info("Creating state reader...")
 
 	stateReader, err := s.historyAdapter.GetState(s.ctx, ledgerSequence)