diff --git a/crates/fuel-core/src/service/adapters.rs b/crates/fuel-core/src/service/adapters.rs
index 41c41a28fd9..d8489dbe6b5 100644
--- a/crates/fuel-core/src/service/adapters.rs
+++ b/crates/fuel-core/src/service/adapters.rs
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ pub struct P2PAdapter {
     #[cfg(feature = "p2p")]
     p2p_service: Arc<P2PService>,
     #[cfg(feature = "p2p")]
-    tx_receiver: Receiver<fuel_core_types::services::p2p::TransactionGossipData>,
+    tx_receiver: Option<Receiver<fuel_core_types::services::p2p::TransactionGossipData>>,
 }
 
 #[cfg(feature = "p2p")]
@@ -67,10 +67,12 @@ impl Clone for P2PAdapter {
 #[cfg(feature = "p2p")]
 impl P2PAdapter {
     pub fn new(p2p_service: Arc<P2PService>) -> Self {
-        let tx_receiver = p2p_service.subscribe_tx();
         Self {
             p2p_service,
-            tx_receiver,
+            // don't autogenerate a fresh receiver unless it is actually used
+            // otherwise we may encounter "lagged" errors on recv
+            // https://docs.rs/tokio/latest/tokio/sync/broadcast/index.html#lagging
+            tx_receiver: None,
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/crates/fuel-core/src/service/adapters/txpool.rs b/crates/fuel-core/src/service/adapters/txpool.rs
index 62f4584cf37..fbb8d06f4f4 100644
--- a/crates/fuel-core/src/service/adapters/txpool.rs
+++ b/crates/fuel-core/src/service/adapters/txpool.rs
@@ -46,8 +46,18 @@ impl fuel_core_txpool::ports::PeerToPeer for P2PAdapter {
     }
 
     async fn next_gossiped_transaction(&mut self) -> Self::GossipedTransaction {
+        // lazily instantiate a long-lived tx receiver only when there
+        // is consumer for the messages to avoid lagging the channel
+        if self.tx_receiver.is_none() {
+            self.tx_receiver = Some(self.p2p_service.subscribe_tx());
+        }
         // todo: handle unwrap
-        self.tx_receiver.recv().await.unwrap()
+        self.tx_receiver
+            .as_mut()
+            .expect("Should always be some")
+            .recv()
+            .await
+            .unwrap()
     }
 
     async fn notify_gossip_transaction_validity(