diff --git a/forest/Cargo.toml b/forest/Cargo.toml
index c9b190ef708e..efe91aa0f001 100644
--- a/forest/Cargo.toml
+++ b/forest/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ async-log = "2.0.0"
 async-std = { version = "1.4.0", features = ["attributes"] }
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 pretty_env_logger = "0.3"
+ctrlc = "3.1.4"
diff --git a/forest/src/main.rs b/forest/src/main.rs
index 55f22b2121d5..b26ada310511 100644
--- a/forest/src/main.rs
+++ b/forest/src/main.rs
@@ -8,8 +8,35 @@ use async_std::task;
 use forest_libp2p::{get_keypair, Libp2pService};
 use libp2p::identity::{ed25519, Keypair};
 use log::{info, trace};
+use std::cell::RefCell;
+use std::process;
+use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
+use std::sync::Arc;
 use utils::write_to_file;
 
+// Blocks current thread until ctrl-c is received
+fn block_until_sigint() {
+    let (ctrlc_send, ctrlc_oneshot) = futures::channel::oneshot::channel();
+    let ctrlc_send_c = RefCell::new(Some(ctrlc_send));
+
+    let running = Arc::new(AtomicUsize::new(0));
+    ctrlc::set_handler(move || {
+        let prev = running.fetch_add(1, Ordering::SeqCst);
+        if prev == 0 {
+            println!("Got interrupt, shutting down...");
+            // Send sig int in channel to blocking task
+            if let Some(ctrlc_send) = ctrlc_send_c.try_borrow_mut().unwrap().take() {
+                ctrlc_send.send(()).expect("Error sending ctrl-c message");
+            }
+        } else {
+            process::exit(0);
+        }
+    })
+    .expect("Error setting Ctrl-C handler");
+
+    task::block_on(ctrlc_oneshot).unwrap();
+}
+
 #[async_std::main]
 async fn main() {
     logger::setup_logger();
@@ -33,11 +60,17 @@ async fn main() {
         }
     };
 
-    let lp2p_service = Libp2pService::new(&config.network, net_keypair);
-
-    task::block_on(async move {
-        lp2p_service.run().await;
+    // Start libp2p service
+    let p2p_service = Libp2pService::new(&config.network, net_keypair);
+    let p2p_thread = task::spawn(async {
+        p2p_service.run().await;
     });
 
+    // Block until ctrl-c is hit
+    block_until_sigint();
+
+    // Drop threads
+    drop(p2p_thread);
+
     info!("Forest finish shutdown");
 }