diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index d64e2fe3bbf..3e340a5b992 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -855,10 +855,7 @@ bitcoin_chainstate_SOURCES = bitcoin-chainstate.cpp
 bitcoin_chainstate_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(BITCOIN_INCLUDES) $(BOOST_CPPFLAGS)
 bitcoin_chainstate_CXXFLAGS = $(AM_CXXFLAGS) $(PIE_FLAGS)
 
-# $(LIBTOOL_APP_LDFLAGS) deliberately omitted here so that we can test linking
-# bitcoin-chainstate against libbitcoinkernel as a shared or static library by
-# setting --{en,dis}able-shared.
-bitcoin_chainstate_LDFLAGS = $(RELDFLAGS) $(AM_LDFLAGS) $(PTHREAD_FLAGS)
+bitcoin_chainstate_LDFLAGS = $(RELDFLAGS) $(AM_LDFLAGS) $(PTHREAD_FLAGS) $(LIBTOOL_APP_LDFLAGS) -static
 bitcoin_chainstate_LDADD = $(LIBBITCOINKERNEL)
 
 # libtool is unable to calculate this indirect dependency, presumably because it's a subproject.