diff --git a/qa/rpc-tests/test_framework/mininode.py b/qa/rpc-tests/test_framework/mininode.py
index 4d238c08d9c..495c6bdf350 100755
--- a/qa/rpc-tests/test_framework/mininode.py
+++ b/qa/rpc-tests/test_framework/mininode.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ from test_framework.siphash import siphash256
 BIP0031_VERSION = 60000
 MY_VERSION = 70014  # past bip-31 for ping/pong
 MY_SUBVERSION = b"/python-mininode-tester:0.0.3/"
+MY_RELAY = 1 # from version 70001 onwards, fRelay should be appended to version messages (BIP37)
 
 MAX_INV_SZ = 50000
 MAX_BLOCK_SIZE = 1000000
@@ -951,6 +952,7 @@ class msg_version(object):
         self.nNonce = random.getrandbits(64)
         self.strSubVer = MY_SUBVERSION
         self.nStartingHeight = -1
+        self.nRelay = MY_RELAY
 
     def deserialize(self, f):
         self.nVersion = struct.unpack("<i", f.read(4))[0]
@@ -960,21 +962,32 @@ class msg_version(object):
         self.nTime = struct.unpack("<q", f.read(8))[0]
         self.addrTo = CAddress()
         self.addrTo.deserialize(f)
+
         if self.nVersion >= 106:
             self.addrFrom = CAddress()
             self.addrFrom.deserialize(f)
             self.nNonce = struct.unpack("<Q", f.read(8))[0]
             self.strSubVer = deser_string(f)
-            if self.nVersion >= 209:
-                self.nStartingHeight = struct.unpack("<i", f.read(4))[0]
-            else:
-                self.nStartingHeight = None
         else:
             self.addrFrom = None
             self.nNonce = None
             self.strSubVer = None
             self.nStartingHeight = None
 
+        if self.nVersion >= 209:
+            self.nStartingHeight = struct.unpack("<i", f.read(4))[0]
+        else:
+            self.nStartingHeight = None
+
+        if self.nVersion >= 70001:
+            # Relay field is optional for version 70001 onwards
+            try:
+                self.nRelay = struct.unpack("<b", f.read(1))[0]
+            except:
+                self.nRelay = 0
+        else:
+            self.nRelay = 0
+
     def serialize(self):
         r = b""
         r += struct.pack("<i", self.nVersion)
@@ -985,13 +998,14 @@ class msg_version(object):
         r += struct.pack("<Q", self.nNonce)
         r += ser_string(self.strSubVer)
         r += struct.pack("<i", self.nStartingHeight)
+        r += struct.pack("<b", self.nRelay)
         return r
 
     def __repr__(self):
-        return 'msg_version(nVersion=%i nServices=%i nTime=%s addrTo=%s addrFrom=%s nNonce=0x%016X strSubVer=%s nStartingHeight=%i)' \
+        return 'msg_version(nVersion=%i nServices=%i nTime=%s addrTo=%s addrFrom=%s nNonce=0x%016X strSubVer=%s nStartingHeight=%i nRelay=%i)' \
             % (self.nVersion, self.nServices, time.ctime(self.nTime),
                repr(self.addrTo), repr(self.addrFrom), self.nNonce,
-               self.strSubVer, self.nStartingHeight)
+               self.strSubVer, self.nStartingHeight, self.nRelay)
 
 
 class msg_verack(object):