diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index 93df2d2a92..6be9034851 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -365,6 +365,7 @@ lazy val coreTest = crossProject(JVMPlatform, JSPlatform)
 
 lazy val coreTestJVM = coreTest.jvm
   .settings(libraryDependencies ++= Deps.coreTestJVM.value)
+  .dependsOn(testkit)
 
 lazy val coreTestJS = coreTest.js
   .enablePlugins(ScalaJSBundlerPlugin)
diff --git a/core-test/.jvm/src/test/scala/org/bitcoins/core/protocol/transaction/TaprootTxTests.scala b/core-test/.jvm/src/test/scala/org/bitcoins/core/protocol/transaction/TaprootTxTests.scala
index 3665585d72..fbf56ed01f 100644
--- a/core-test/.jvm/src/test/scala/org/bitcoins/core/protocol/transaction/TaprootTxTests.scala
+++ b/core-test/.jvm/src/test/scala/org/bitcoins/core/protocol/transaction/TaprootTxTests.scala
@@ -4,21 +4,25 @@ import org.bitcoins.core.protocol.script.{ScriptSignature, TaprootKeyPath}
 import org.bitcoins.core.script.flag.ScriptVerifyTaproot
 import org.bitcoins.core.script.interpreter.ScriptInterpreter
 import org.bitcoins.core.script.result.ScriptOk
-import org.bitcoins.testkitcore.util.BitcoinSJvmTest
+import org.bitcoins.core.util.FutureUtil
+import org.bitcoins.testkit.util.BitcoinSAsyncTest
 import org.scalatest.Assertion
 import org.scalatest.time.Span
 import scodec.bits.ByteVector
 
-import scala.concurrent.Future
+import scala.concurrent.{ExecutionContext, Future}
 import scala.concurrent.duration.DurationInt
 
-class TaprootTxTests extends BitcoinSJvmTest {
+class TaprootTxTests extends BitcoinSAsyncTest {
 
   behavior of "Taproot test cases"
 
   //these static test vectors take forever
   override lazy val timeLimit: Span = 10.minutes
 
+  implicit override val executionContext: ExecutionContext =
+    system.dispatchers.lookup("akka.actor.multi-core-dispatcher")
+
   //these tests are from
   //https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitcoin-core/qa-assets/main/unit_test_data/script_assets_test.json
   lazy val url = getClass.getResource("/script_assets_test_cp.json")
@@ -30,6 +34,7 @@ class TaprootTxTests extends BitcoinSJvmTest {
   lazy val testCases: Seq[TaprootTestCase] = {
     upickle.default.read[Seq[TaprootTestCase]](lines)
   }
+
   it must "parse a taproot test case" in {
     //https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/v22.0/test/functional/feature_taproot.py#L1112
     //https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/3820090bd619ac85ab35eff376c03136fe4a9f04/src/test/script_tests.cpp#L1673
@@ -70,7 +75,7 @@ class TaprootTxTests extends BitcoinSJvmTest {
 
   private def executeSuccessTestCases(
       testCases: Vector[TaprootTestCase]): Future[Vector[Assertion]] = {
-    Future {
+    FutureUtil.makeAsync { () =>
       testCases.map { testCase =>
         withClue(testCase.comment) {
           val result = ScriptInterpreter.run(testCase.successProgram)
diff --git a/testkit/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/testkit/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 3720b03c4a..6a82bf2b01 100644
--- a/testkit/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/testkit/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -197,6 +197,19 @@ akka {
                 fixed-pool-size = 2
             }
         }
+
+       # https://doc.akka.io/docs/akka/current/dispatchers.html#classic-dispatchers
+       # use for taproot tx tests as they take a long time,
+       # more generally, any CPU bound test case should consider using
+       # this dispatcher
+        multi-core-dispatcher {
+            type = "Dispatcher"
+            executor = "thread-pool-executor"
+            thread-pool-executor {
+                fixed-pool-size = 4
+            }
+        }
+
         default-blocking-io-dispatcher {
             type = "Dispatcher"
             executor = "thread-pool-executor"