diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 63a745393e3..9819c2493cf 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -148,6 +148,12 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE([glibc-back-compat],
   [use_glibc_compat=$enableval],
   [use_glibc_compat=no])
 
+AC_ARG_WITH([system-univalue],
+  [AS_HELP_STRING([--without-system-univalue],
+  [Build with system UniValue (default is auto)])],
+  [system_univalue=$withval],
+  [system_univalue=auto]
+)
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([zmq],
   [AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-zmq],
   [disable ZMQ notifications])],
@@ -742,6 +748,44 @@ else
   fi
 fi
 
+dnl univalue check
+
+if test x$system_univalue != xno ; then
+  found_univalue=no
+  if test x$use_pkgconfig = xyes; then
+    : #NOP
+    m4_ifdef(
+      [PKG_CHECK_MODULES],
+      [
+        PKG_CHECK_MODULES([UNIVALUE],[libunivalue],[found_univalue=yes],[true])
+      ]
+    )
+  else
+    AC_CHECK_HEADER([univalue.h],[
+      AC_CHECK_LIB([univalue],  [main],[
+        UNIVALUE_LIBS=-lunivalue
+        found_univalue=yes
+      ],[true])
+    ],[true])
+  fi
+
+  if test x$found_univalue = xyes ; then
+    system_univalue=yes
+  elif test x$system_univalue = xyes ; then
+    AC_MSG_ERROR([univalue not found])
+  else
+    system_univalue=no
+  fi
+fi
+
+if test x$system_univalue = xno ; then
+  UNIVALUE_CFLAGS='-I$(srcdir)/univalue/include'
+  UNIVALUE_LIBS='univalue/libunivalue.la'
+fi
+AM_CONDITIONAL([EMBEDDED_UNIVALUE],[test x$system_univalue = xno])
+AC_SUBST(UNIVALUE_CFLAGS)
+AC_SUBST(UNIVALUE_LIBS)
+
 CXXFLAGS_TEMP="$CXXFLAGS"
 LIBS_TEMP="$LIBS"
 CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $SSL_CFLAGS $CRYPTO_CFLAGS"
@@ -958,8 +1002,12 @@ PKGCONFIG_LIBDIR_TEMP="$PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR"
 unset PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
 PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR="$PKGCONFIG_LIBDIR_TEMP"
 
+if test x$system_univalue = xno; then
+  AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([src/univalue])
+fi
+
 ac_configure_args="${ac_configure_args} --disable-shared --with-pic --with-bignum=no --enable-module-recovery"
-AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([src/secp256k1 src/univalue])
+AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([src/secp256k1])
 
 AC_OUTPUT
 
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index bb627a54489..97593bfe86f 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -1,9 +1,20 @@
-DIST_SUBDIRS = secp256k1 univalue
+DIST_SUBDIRS = secp256k1
 
 AM_LDFLAGS = $(PTHREAD_CFLAGS) $(LIBTOOL_LDFLAGS) $(HARDENED_LDFLAGS)
 AM_CXXFLAGS = $(HARDENED_CXXFLAGS)
 AM_CPPFLAGS = $(HARDENED_CPPFLAGS)
 
+if EMBEDDED_UNIVALUE
+DIST_SUBDIRS += univalue
+
+LIBUNIVALUE = univalue/libunivalue.la
+
+$(LIBUNIVALUE): $(wildcard univalue/lib/*) $(wildcard univalue/include/*)
+	$(AM_V_at)$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) -C $(@D) $(@F)
+else
+LIBUNIVALUE = $(UNIVALUE_LIBS)
+endif
+
 if EMBEDDED_LEVELDB
 LEVELDB_CPPFLAGS += -I$(srcdir)/leveldb/include
 LEVELDB_CPPFLAGS += -I$(srcdir)/leveldb/helpers/memenv
@@ -23,7 +34,7 @@ BITCOIN_CONFIG_INCLUDES=-I$(builddir)/config
 BITCOIN_INCLUDES=-I$(builddir) -I$(builddir)/obj $(BOOST_CPPFLAGS) $(LEVELDB_CPPFLAGS) $(CRYPTO_CFLAGS) $(SSL_CFLAGS)
 
 BITCOIN_INCLUDES += -I$(srcdir)/secp256k1/include
-BITCOIN_INCLUDES += -I$(srcdir)/univalue/include
+BITCOIN_INCLUDES += $(UNIVALUE_CFLAGS)
 
 LIBBITCOIN_SERVER=libbitcoin_server.a
 LIBBITCOIN_WALLET=libbitcoin_wallet.a
@@ -33,13 +44,9 @@ LIBBITCOIN_UTIL=libbitcoin_util.a
 LIBBITCOIN_CRYPTO=crypto/libbitcoin_crypto.a
 LIBBITCOINQT=qt/libbitcoinqt.a
 LIBSECP256K1=secp256k1/libsecp256k1.la
-LIBUNIVALUE=univalue/libunivalue.la
 
 $(LIBSECP256K1): $(wildcard secp256k1/src/*) $(wildcard secp256k1/include/*)
 	$(AM_V_at)$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) -C $(@D) $(@F)
-  
-$(LIBUNIVALUE): $(wildcard univalue/lib/*) $(wildcard univalue/include/*)
-	$(AM_V_at)$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) -C $(@D) $(@F)
 
 # Make is not made aware of per-object dependencies to avoid limiting building parallelization
 # But to build the less dependent modules first, we manually select their order here:
diff --git a/src/Makefile.test.include b/src/Makefile.test.include
index 4d0894b7119..6cf0205dd94 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.test.include
+++ b/src/Makefile.test.include
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@ check-local:
 	@echo "Running test/bitcoin-util-test.py..."
 	$(AM_V_at)srcdir=$(srcdir) PYTHONPATH=$(builddir)/test $(srcdir)/test/bitcoin-util-test.py
 	$(AM_V_at)$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) -C secp256k1 check
+if EMBEDDED_UNIVALUE
 	$(AM_V_at)$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) -C univalue check
+endif
 
 %.json.h: %.json
 	@$(MKDIR_P) $(@D)