diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 840c740d4b..93218c0d16 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ Special thanks to external contributors for this release: @CharlyCst ([#347]).
 
 ### FEATURES
 
-- Update to tendermint-rs version `0.17-RC2` ([#368])
+- Update Tokio to version 0.3 ([#402])
+- Update to tendermint-rs version `0.17-RC3` ([#403])
 - [changelog] Added "unreleased" section in `CHANGELOG.MD` to help streamline releases ([#274])
 - [relayer] Integrate relayer spike into relayer crate ([#335])
 - [modules]
@@ -45,6 +46,8 @@ Special thanks to external contributors for this release: @CharlyCst ([#347]).
 [#373]: https://github.com/informalsystems/ibc-rs/issues/373
 [#374]: https://github.com/informalsystems/ibc-rs/issues/374
 [#389]: https://github.com/informalsystems/ibc-rs/issues/389
+[#402]: https://github.com/informalsystems/ibc-rs/issues/402
+[#403]: https://github.com/informalsystems/ibc-rs/issues/403
 [proto-compiler]: https://github.com/informalsystems/ibc-rs/tree/master/proto-compiler
 
 ### IMPROVEMENTS
diff --git a/modules/Cargo.toml b/modules/Cargo.toml
index 5aeee146a5..9efae2ed78 100644
--- a/modules/Cargo.toml
+++ b/modules/Cargo.toml
@@ -55,6 +55,6 @@ version = "0.17.0-rc2"
 optional = true
 
 [dev-dependencies]
-tokio = { version = "0.2", features = ["macros"] }
+tokio = { version = "0.3", features = ["macros"] }
 subtle-encoding = { version = "0.5" }
 tendermint-testgen = { version = "0.17.0-rc2" } # Needed for generating (synthetic) light blocks.
diff --git a/relayer-cli/Cargo.toml b/relayer-cli/Cargo.toml
index 72abc0b171..c12179171c 100644
--- a/relayer-cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/relayer-cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,12 +9,11 @@ authors = [
 [dependencies]
 relayer = { path = "../relayer" }
 ibc = { path = "../modules" }
-abscissa_tokio = "0.5.1"
 anomaly = "0.2.0"
 gumdrop = "0.7"
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["serde_derive"] }
 thiserror = "1"
-tokio = { version = "0.2.13", features = ["rt-util", "sync"] }
+tokio = { version = "0.3", features = ["rt", "rt-multi-thread", "time", "stream", "sync"] }
 tracing = "0.1.13"
 tracing-subscriber = "0.2.3"
 futures = "0.3.5"
diff --git a/relayer-cli/src/application.rs b/relayer-cli/src/application.rs
index 9d7ff6ac43..25cbc278e8 100644
--- a/relayer-cli/src/application.rs
+++ b/relayer-cli/src/application.rs
@@ -82,11 +82,7 @@ impl Application for CliApp {
     /// beyond the default ones provided by the framework, this is the place
     /// to do so.
     fn register_components(&mut self, command: &Self::Cmd) -> Result<(), FrameworkError> {
-        use abscissa_tokio::TokioComponent;
-
-        let mut components = self.framework_components(command)?;
-        components.push(Box::new(TokioComponent::new()?));
-
+        let components = self.framework_components(command)?;
         self.state.components.register(components)
     }
 
diff --git a/relayer-cli/src/commands/listen.rs b/relayer-cli/src/commands/listen.rs
index e9b668e987..857daf630c 100644
--- a/relayer-cli/src/commands/listen.rs
+++ b/relayer-cli/src/commands/listen.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use abscissa_core::{
     application::fatal_error, error::BoxError, tracing::debug, Command, Options, Runnable,
 };
 
-use crate::{application::APPLICATION, prelude::*, tasks::event_listener};
+use crate::{prelude::*, tasks::event_listener};
 
 #[derive(Command, Debug, Options)]
 pub struct ListenCmd {}
@@ -20,11 +20,12 @@ impl ListenCmd {
 
 impl Runnable for ListenCmd {
     fn run(&self) {
-        abscissa_tokio::run(&APPLICATION, async move {
+        let rt = tokio::runtime::Runtime::new().unwrap();
+
+        rt.block_on(async move {
             self.cmd()
                 .await
                 .unwrap_or_else(|e| fatal_error(app_reader().deref(), &*e));
-        })
-        .unwrap();
+        });
     }
 }
diff --git a/relayer-cli/src/commands/start.rs b/relayer-cli/src/commands/start.rs
index 2d65f50bc4..75f2417998 100644
--- a/relayer-cli/src/commands/start.rs
+++ b/relayer-cli/src/commands/start.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ use abscissa_core::{
 
 use relayer::{chain::CosmosSDKChain, config::Config};
 
-use crate::{application::APPLICATION, prelude::*, tasks};
+use crate::{prelude::*, tasks};
 
 #[derive(Command, Debug, Options)]
 pub struct StartCmd {
@@ -23,12 +23,13 @@ impl StartCmd {
 
 impl Runnable for StartCmd {
     fn run(&self) {
-        abscissa_tokio::run(&APPLICATION, async move {
+        let rt = tokio::runtime::Runtime::new().unwrap();
+
+        rt.block_on(async move {
             self.cmd()
                 .await
                 .unwrap_or_else(|e| fatal_error(app_reader().deref(), &*e));
-        })
-        .unwrap();
+        });
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/relayer/Cargo.toml b/relayer/Cargo.toml
index b060c44432..a104ce7d74 100644
--- a/relayer/Cargo.toml
+++ b/relayer/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ sled = { version = "0.34.4", features = ["no_metrics", "no_logs"] }
 thiserror = "1.0.11"
 toml = "0.5"
 tracing = "0.1.13"
-tokio = "0.2"
+tokio = { version = "0.3", features = ["macros"] }
 serde_json = { version = "1" }
 bytes = "0.6.0"
 prost = "0.6.1"
diff --git a/relayer/src/util/block_on.rs b/relayer/src/util/block_on.rs
index aed8c9f98e..93459ece34 100644
--- a/relayer/src/util/block_on.rs
+++ b/relayer/src/util/block_on.rs
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@ use futures::Future;
 
 /// Spawns a new tokio runtime and use it to block on the given future.
 pub fn block_on<F: Future>(future: F) -> F::Output {
-    tokio::runtime::Builder::new()
-        .basic_scheduler()
+    tokio::runtime::Builder::new_current_thread()
         .enable_all()
         .build()
         .unwrap()