diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index 7285e7c0..9b9415a8 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ std::string HelpMessage()
         "  -keypool=<n>           " + _("Set key pool size to <n> (default: 100)") + "\n" +
         "  -rescan                " + _("Rescan the block chain for missing wallet transactions") + "\n" +
         "  -salvagewallet         " + _("Attempt to recover private keys from a corrupt wallet.dat") + "\n" +
-        "  -checkblocks=<n>       " + _("How many blocks to check at startup (default: 2500, 0 = all)") + "\n" +
+        "  -checkblocks=<n>       " + _("How many blocks to check at startup (default: 288, 0 = all)") + "\n" +
         "  -checklevel=<n>        " + _("How thorough the block verification is (0-4, default: 3)") + "\n" +
         "  -txindex               " + _("Maintain a full transaction index (default: 0)") + "\n" +
         "  -loadblock=<file>      " + _("Imports blocks from external blk000??.dat file") + "\n" +
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 84a5cdc1..75e70139 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -2608,7 +2608,7 @@ bool VerifyDB() {
 
     // Verify blocks in the best chain
     int nCheckLevel = GetArg("-checklevel", 3);
-    int nCheckDepth = GetArg( "-checkblocks", 2500);
+    int nCheckDepth = GetArg( "-checkblocks", 288);
     if (nCheckDepth == 0)
         nCheckDepth = 1000000000; // suffices until the year 19000
     if (nCheckDepth > nBestHeight)