diff --git a/wallet/db_sqlite3.c b/wallet/db_sqlite3.c
index ba90e4d5f..282e2b6a0 100644
--- a/wallet/db_sqlite3.c
+++ b/wallet/db_sqlite3.c
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ static bool db_sqlite3_setup(struct db *db)
 	}
 	db->conn = sql;
 
+	/* In case another writer (litestream?) grabs a lock, we don't
+	 * want to return SQLITE_BUSY immediately (which will cause a
+	 * fatal error): give it 5 seconds. */
+	sqlite3_busy_timeout(db->conn, 5000);
+
 	sqlite3_prepare_v2(db->conn, "PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON;", -1, &stmt, NULL);
 	err = sqlite3_step(stmt);
 	sqlite3_finalize(stmt);