diff --git a/changes/2024-06-19T182611-0400.txt b/changes/2024-06-19T182611-0400.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f09e731a21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/2024-06-19T182611-0400.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Speed up read-only replay by avoiding playing empty blocks
diff --git a/src/Chainweb/Pact/PactService.hs b/src/Chainweb/Pact/PactService.hs
index cf4554eed4..34e3143392 100644
--- a/src/Chainweb/Pact/PactService.hs
+++ b/src/Chainweb/Pact/PactService.hs
@@ -824,7 +824,10 @@ execReadOnlyReplay lowerBound maybeUpperBound = pactLabel "execReadOnlyReplay" $
                     liftIO $ writeIORef heightRef (_blockHeight bh)
                     payload <- liftIO $ fromJuste <$>
                       lookupPayloadDataWithHeight pdb (Just $ _blockHeight bh) (_blockPayloadHash bh)
-                    void $ execBlock bh (CheckablePayload payload)
+                    let isPayloadEmpty = V.null (_payloadDataTransactions payload)
+                    let isUpgradeBlock = isJust $ _chainwebVersion bhdb ^? versionUpgrades . onChain (_chainId bhdb) . ix (_blockHeight bh)
+                    unless (isPayloadEmpty && not isUpgradeBlock) $
+                      void $ execBlock bh (CheckablePayload payload)
             )
         validationFailed <- readIORef validationFailedRef
         when validationFailed $