diff --git a/core/blockchain.go b/core/blockchain.go
index 36d5635065..e62ab09189 100644
--- a/core/blockchain.go
+++ b/core/blockchain.go
@@ -408,7 +408,8 @@ func NewBlockChain(db ethdb.Database, cacheConfig *CacheConfig, genesis *Genesis
 	// The first thing the node will do is reconstruct the verification data for
 	// the head block (ethash cache or clique voting snapshot). Might as well do
 	// it in advance.
-	bc.engine.VerifyHeader(bc, bc.CurrentHeader())
+	// BOR - commented out intentionally
+	// bc.engine.VerifyHeader(bc, bc.CurrentHeader())
 
 	// Check the current state of the block hashes and make sure that we do not have any of the bad blocks in our chain
 	for hash := range BadHashes {
@@ -2139,15 +2140,6 @@ func (bc *BlockChain) insertChain(chain types.Blocks, setHead bool) (int, error)
 			parent = bc.GetHeader(block.ParentHash(), block.NumberU64()-1)
 		}
 
-		statedb, err := state.New(parent.Root, bc.stateCache, bc.snaps)
-		if err != nil {
-			return it.index, err
-		}
-
-		// Enable prefetching to pull in trie node paths while processing transactions
-		statedb.StartPrefetcher("chain")
-		activeState = statedb
-
 		// If we have a followup block, run that against the current state to pre-cache
 		// transactions and probabilistically some of the account/storage trie nodes.
 		var followupInterrupt atomic.Bool