diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 15408ba75af6c..2e02be5f65670 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -6216,6 +6216,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "sc-authority-discovery"
 version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "async-trait",
  "bytes 0.5.6",
  "derive_more",
  "either",
diff --git a/client/authority-discovery/Cargo.toml b/client/authority-discovery/Cargo.toml
index 0e5c22380ded2..3b60136eacda6 100644
--- a/client/authority-discovery/Cargo.toml
+++ b/client/authority-discovery/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ targets = ["x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"]
 prost-build = "0.6.1"
 
 [dependencies]
+async-trait = "0.1"
 bytes = "0.5.0"
 codec = { package = "parity-scale-codec", default-features = false, version = "1.3.4" }
 derive_more = "0.99.2"
diff --git a/client/authority-discovery/src/worker.rs b/client/authority-discovery/src/worker.rs
index ca8a1bdd6370d..f204b3adf9bb5 100644
--- a/client/authority-discovery/src/worker.rs
+++ b/client/authority-discovery/src/worker.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ use futures::{FutureExt, Stream, StreamExt, stream::Fuse};
 use futures_timer::Delay;
 
 use addr_cache::AddrCache;
+use async_trait::async_trait;
 use codec::Decode;
 use either::Either;
 use libp2p::{core::multiaddr, multihash::Multihash};
@@ -267,7 +268,7 @@ where
 				},
 				// Set peerset priority group to a new random set of addresses.
 				_ = self.priority_group_set_interval.next().fuse() => {
-					if let Err(e) = self.set_priority_group() {
+					if let Err(e) = self.set_priority_group().await {
 						error!(
 							target: LOG_TARGET,
 							"Failed to set priority group: {:?}", e,
@@ -629,7 +630,7 @@ where
 
 	/// Set the peer set 'authority' priority group to a new random set of
 	/// [`Multiaddr`]s.
-	fn set_priority_group(&self) -> Result<()> {
+	async fn set_priority_group(&self) -> Result<()> {
 		let addresses = self.addr_cache.get_random_subset();
 
 		if addresses.is_empty() {
@@ -653,7 +654,7 @@ where
 			.set_priority_group(
 				AUTHORITIES_PRIORITY_GROUP_NAME.to_string(),
 				addresses.into_iter().collect(),
-			)
+			).await
 			.map_err(Error::SettingPeersetPriorityGroup)?;
 
 		Ok(())
@@ -663,9 +664,10 @@ where
 /// NetworkProvider provides [`Worker`] with all necessary hooks into the
 /// underlying Substrate networking. Using this trait abstraction instead of [`NetworkService`]
 /// directly is necessary to unit test [`Worker`].
+#[async_trait]
 pub trait NetworkProvider: NetworkStateInfo {
 	/// Modify a peerset priority group.
-	fn set_priority_group(
+	async fn set_priority_group(
 		&self,
 		group_id: String,
 		peers: HashSet<libp2p::Multiaddr>,
@@ -678,17 +680,18 @@ pub trait NetworkProvider: NetworkStateInfo {
 	fn get_value(&self, key: &libp2p::kad::record::Key);
 }
 
+#[async_trait::async_trait]
 impl<B, H> NetworkProvider for sc_network::NetworkService<B, H>
 where
 	B: BlockT + 'static,
 	H: ExHashT,
 {
-	fn set_priority_group(
+	async fn set_priority_group(
 		&self,
 		group_id: String,
 		peers: HashSet<libp2p::Multiaddr>,
 	) -> std::result::Result<(), String> {
-		self.set_priority_group(group_id, peers)
+		self.set_priority_group(group_id, peers).await
 	}
 	fn put_value(&self, key: libp2p::kad::record::Key, value: Vec<u8>) {
 		self.put_value(key, value)
diff --git a/client/authority-discovery/src/worker/tests.rs b/client/authority-discovery/src/worker/tests.rs
index cb1f8df8a822d..98177f45729db 100644
--- a/client/authority-discovery/src/worker/tests.rs
+++ b/client/authority-discovery/src/worker/tests.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ use crate::worker::schema;
 
 use std::{iter::FromIterator, sync::{Arc, Mutex}, task::Poll};
 
+use async_trait::async_trait;
 use futures::channel::mpsc::{self, channel};
 use futures::executor::{block_on, LocalPool};
 use futures::future::FutureExt;
@@ -213,8 +214,9 @@ impl Default for TestNetwork {
 	}
 }
 
+#[async_trait]
 impl NetworkProvider for TestNetwork {
-	fn set_priority_group(
+	async fn set_priority_group(
 		&self,
 		group_id: String,
 		peers: HashSet<Multiaddr>,
@@ -424,7 +426,7 @@ fn publish_discover_cycle() {
 		// Make authority discovery handle the event.
 		worker.handle_dht_event(dht_event).await;
 
-		worker.set_priority_group().unwrap();
+		worker.set_priority_group().await.unwrap();
 
 		// Expect authority discovery to set the priority set.
 		assert_eq!(network.set_priority_group_call.lock().unwrap().len(), 1);
@@ -623,7 +625,7 @@ fn never_add_own_address_to_priority_group() {
 	sentry_worker.start_new_lookups();
 
 	sentry_worker.handle_dht_value_found_event(vec![dht_event]).unwrap();
-	sentry_worker.set_priority_group().unwrap();
+	block_on(sentry_worker.set_priority_group()).unwrap();
 
 	assert_eq!(
 		sentry_network.set_priority_group_call.lock().unwrap().len(), 1,
diff --git a/client/network/src/service.rs b/client/network/src/service.rs
index af123e94fac4b..acfd0281db2df 100644
--- a/client/network/src/service.rs
+++ b/client/network/src/service.rs
@@ -972,7 +972,10 @@ impl<B: BlockT + 'static, H: ExHashT> NetworkService<B, H> {
 	///
 	/// Returns an `Err` if one of the given addresses is invalid or contains an
 	/// invalid peer ID (which includes the local peer ID).
-	pub fn set_priority_group(&self, group_id: String, peers: HashSet<Multiaddr>) -> Result<(), String> {
+	//
+	// NOTE: even though this function is currently sync, it's marked as async for
+	// future-proofing, see https://github.com/paritytech/substrate/pull/7247#discussion_r502263451.
+	pub async fn set_priority_group(&self, group_id: String, peers: HashSet<Multiaddr>) -> Result<(), String> {
 		let peers = self.split_multiaddr_and_peer_id(peers)?;
 
 		let peer_ids = peers.iter().map(|(peer_id, _addr)| peer_id.clone()).collect();