diff --git a/vendor/zerokit b/vendor/zerokit
index 8a365f0c9e..c6b7a8c0a4 160000
--- a/vendor/zerokit
+++ b/vendor/zerokit
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 8a365f0c9e5c4a744f70c5dd4904ce8d8f926c34
+Subproject commit c6b7a8c0a401dc9a3f5b0511ebfb8727fc19b53a
diff --git a/waku/v2/node/waku_node.nim b/waku/v2/node/waku_node.nim
index df8b3b0a5f..57d0d7a848 100644
--- a/waku/v2/node/waku_node.nim
+++ b/waku/v2/node/waku_node.nim
@@ -828,4 +828,8 @@ proc stop*(node: WakuNode) {.async.} =
   await node.switch.stop()
   node.peerManager.stop()
 
+  when defined(rln):
+    if not node.wakuRlnRelay.isNil():
+      await node.wakuRlnRelay.stop()
+
   node.started = false
diff --git a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/group_manager_base.nim b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/group_manager_base.nim
index 31878632d1..273d2421f8 100644
--- a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/group_manager_base.nim
+++ b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/group_manager_base.nim
@@ -89,6 +89,9 @@ method withdrawBatch*(g: GroupManager, identitySecretHashes: seq[IdentitySecretH
 method atomicBatch*(g: GroupManager, idCommitments: seq[IDCommitment], toRemoveIndices: seq[MembershipIndex]): Future[void] {.base,gcsafe.} =
   raise newException(CatchableError, "atomicBatch proc for " & $g.type & " is not implemented yet")
 
+method close*(g: GroupManager): Future[void] {.base,gcsafe.} =
+  raise newException(CatchableError, "close proc for " & $g.type & " is not implemented yet")
+
 # This proc is used to set a callback that will be called when an identity commitment is withdrawn
 # The callback may be called multiple times, and should be used to for any post processing
 method onWithdraw*(g: GroupManager, cb: OnWithdrawCallback) {.base,gcsafe.} =
diff --git a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain/group_manager.nim b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain/group_manager.nim
index 8f484eca0c..a4c928c779 100644
--- a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain/group_manager.nim
+++ b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain/group_manager.nim
@@ -496,3 +496,10 @@ method init*(g: OnchainGroupManager): Future[void] {.async.} =
       error "failed to restart group sync", error = getCurrentExceptionMsg()
 
   g.initialized = true
+
+method close*(g: OnchainGroupManager): Future[void] {.async.} =
+  if g.ethRpc.isSome():
+    await g.ethRpc.get().close()
+  let connClosed = g.rlnInstance.closeDbConnection()
+  if not connClosed:
+    error "failed to close the tree db connection"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/static/group_manager.nim b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/static/group_manager.nim
index 3a3d831230..cf03522700 100644
--- a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/static/group_manager.nim
+++ b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/static/group_manager.nim
@@ -102,3 +102,10 @@ method onRegister*(g: StaticGroupManager, cb: OnRegisterCallback) {.gcsafe.} =
 
 method onWithdraw*(g: StaticGroupManager, cb: OnWithdrawCallback) {.gcsafe.} =
   g.withdrawCb = some(cb)
+
+method close*(g: StaticGroupManager): Future[void] =
+  initializedGuard(g)
+  # No-op
+  var retFut = newFuture[void]("StaticGroupManager.close")
+  retFut.complete()
+  return retFut
diff --git a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/rln/rln_interface.nim b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/rln/rln_interface.nim
index 34def0f289..9195cfd9da 100644
--- a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/rln/rln_interface.nim
+++ b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/rln/rln_interface.nim
@@ -188,3 +188,8 @@ proc get_metadata*(ctx: ptr RLN, output_buffer: ptr Buffer): bool {.importc: "ge
 ## gets the metadata stored by ctx and populates the passed pointer output_buffer with it
 ## the output_buffer holds the metadata as a byte seq
 ## the return bool value indicates the success or failure of the operation
+
+proc close_db_connection*(ctx: ptr RLN): bool {.importc: "close_db_connection".}
+## closes the connection to the database
+## the return bool value indicates the success or failure of the operation
+## This allows more robust and graceful handling of the database connection
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/rln_relay.nim b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/rln_relay.nim
index 0c04c18a06..13e20074f7 100644
--- a/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/rln_relay.nim
+++ b/waku/v2/waku_rln_relay/rln_relay.nim
@@ -90,6 +90,13 @@ type WakuRLNRelay* = ref object of RootObj
   groupManager*: GroupManager
   messageBucket*: Option[TokenBucket]
 
+method stop*(rlnPeer: WakuRLNRelay) {.async.} =
+  ## stops the rln-relay protocol
+  ## Throws an error if it cannot stop the rln-relay protocol
+
+  # stop the group sync, and flush data to tree db
+  await rlnPeer.groupManager.close()
+
 proc hasDuplicate*(rlnPeer: WakuRLNRelay,
                    proofMetadata: ProofMetadata): RlnRelayResult[bool] =
   ## returns true if there is another message in the  `nullifierLog` of the `rlnPeer` with the same