diff -uNr a/bitcoin/src/db.cpp b/bitcoin/src/db.cpp
--- a/bitcoin/src/db.cpp f8fcccd44b3635182b65b09b51229bf30bd42e1dcfd91d66c57d82425b055ddfbb8f88249479b6c3ad45d21ae0c0c6cdd920f8ae44693c4256598ea2bb807007
+++ b/bitcoin/src/db.cpp 3696bed50163aab754e7875fb51cb16c5244865f23b2e4c00ddcd3f6b64c2001640b7a1f66c72c06d2d5cad7bfacb8fc18a0eb5f3e3f7cfd516a5353fc7ce1e3
@@ -18,6 +18,18 @@
 unsigned int nWalletDBUpdated;
 uint64 nAccountingEntryNumber = 0;
 
+CCriticalSection cs_dbwritetime;
+int64 dbWriteTime = 0;
+
+int64 DbWriteOdometer(int64 dt)
+{
+    CRITICAL_BLOCK(cs_dbwritetime) // increment write-wait odometer
+    {
+      dbWriteTime += dt;
+    }
+    return dbWriteTime;
+}
+
 
 
 //
diff -uNr a/bitcoin/src/db.h b/bitcoin/src/db.h
--- a/bitcoin/src/db.h 1a4b9bd666180acf944d189ffd5b89da0f1c0d7b60223fe7f16f73a7d90bdd2a75b7d46805738ea3da36ae766b0aa4a5d29283b5f4ef8a77aae991cf990ae0cc
+++ b/bitcoin/src/db.h 5d6e22ff9bb87c423cb2a4a92a41ab68959233611b431551203bc8b5fa2ca18a6f8db4955715c25238927bbdad1e3593dc02db35bfbb75bd81460c9765211198
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 void ThreadFlushWalletDB(void* parg);
 bool BackupWallet(const CWallet& wallet, const std::string& strDest);
 
-
+int64 DbWriteOdometer(int64 dt);
 
 class CDB
 {
@@ -102,7 +102,10 @@
         Dbt datValue(&ssValue[0], ssValue.size());
 
         // Write
+        int64 wStart = GetTimeMillis();
         int ret = pdb->put(GetTxn(), &datKey, &datValue, (fOverwrite ? 0 : DB_NOOVERWRITE));
+        int64 wInterval = GetTimeMillis() - wStart;
+        DbWriteOdometer(wInterval);
 
         // Clear memory in case it was a private key
         memset(datKey.get_data(), 0, datKey.get_size());
diff -uNr a/bitcoin/src/main.cpp b/bitcoin/src/main.cpp
--- a/bitcoin/src/main.cpp d49e7aaab38507fd69e6629b8baae80bc87d2071c842c8ede6f2d8e54f87e7d439c79b9a38ad94591e6fd5cf96196f2221426a4c8a2ffb282030fbcf810c18fb
+++ b/bitcoin/src/main.cpp 07f7a221f9a259415c81d76437369f62405b60d39917a70c23e2f9c2126259b7c4d6f589bdc3a8260197e35964f22d97e002d2e8226678a68efa68c147b78c87
@@ -1320,7 +1320,8 @@
     return true;
 }
 
-bool ProcessBlock(CNode* pfrom, CBlock* pblock)
+
+bool do_ProcessBlock(CNode* pfrom, CBlock* pblock)
 {
     // Check for duplicate
     uint256 hash = pblock->GetHash();
@@ -1375,6 +1376,18 @@
 }
 
 
+// Timing wrapper for ProcessBlock, to determine portion of time spent waiting for db.
+bool ProcessBlock(CNode* pfrom, CBlock* pblock)
+{
+    int64 dbStart = DbWriteOdometer(0);
+    int64 pbStart = GetTimeMillis();
+    bool res = do_ProcessBlock(pfrom, pblock);
+    int64 pbInterval = GetTimeMillis() - pbStart;
+    int64 dbInterval = DbWriteOdometer(0) - dbStart;
+    printf("ProcessBlock (res == %d) took : %"PRI64d"ms; db write wait: %"PRI64d"ms \n",
+           res, pbInterval, dbInterval);
+    return res;
+}