diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 837810401a..89b856e664 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -800,7 +800,6 @@ AC_SUBST(CLIENT_VERSION_BUILD, _CLIENT_VERSION_BUILD)
 AC_SUBST(CLIENT_VERSION_IS_RELEASE, _CLIENT_VERSION_IS_RELEASE)
 AC_SUBST(COPYRIGHT_YEAR, _COPYRIGHT_YEAR)
 
-
 AC_SUBST(RELDFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(LIBTOOL_LDFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(USE_UPNP)
@@ -816,6 +815,16 @@ AC_SUBST(MINIUPNPC_LIBS)
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile src/Makefile share/setup.nsi share/qt/Info.plist src/test/buildenv.py])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([qa/pull-tester/run-bitcoind-for-test.sh],[chmod +x qa/pull-tester/run-bitcoind-for-test.sh])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([qa/pull-tester/tests-config.sh],[chmod +x qa/pull-tester/tests-config.sh])
+
+dnl boost's m4 checks do something really nasty: they export these vars. As a
+dnl result, they leak into secp256k1's configure and crazy things happen.
+dnl Until this is fixed upstream and we've synced, we'll just un-export them.
+export -n CPPFLAGS
+export -n LIBS
+export -n LDFLAGS
+ac_configure_args="${ac_configure_args} --disable-shared --with-pic"
+AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([src/secp256k1])
+
 AC_OUTPUT
 
 dnl Taken from https://wiki.debian.org/RpathIssue
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 3da833d733..517bded369 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
 AM_LDFLAGS = $(PTHREAD_CFLAGS) $(LIBTOOL_LDFLAGS)
 
-if USE_LIBSECP256K1
-secp256k1/libsecp256k1.la: $(wildcard secp256k1/src/*) $(wildcard secp256k1/include/*)
-	@$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) -C $(@D) $(@F)
-endif
 
 if EMBEDDED_LEVELDB
 LEVELDB_CPPFLAGS += -I$(srcdir)/leveldb/include
@@ -23,9 +19,7 @@ endif
 BITCOIN_CONFIG_INCLUDES=-I$(builddir)/config
 BITCOIN_INCLUDES=-I$(builddir) -I$(builddir)/obj $(BOOST_CPPFLAGS) $(LEVELDB_CPPFLAGS) $(CRYPTO_CFLAGS) $(SSL_CFLAGS)
 
-if USE_LIBSECP256K1
 BITCOIN_INCLUDES += -I$(srcdir)/secp256k1/include
-endif
 
 LIBBITCOIN_SERVER=libbitcoin_server.a
 LIBBITCOIN_WALLET=libbitcoin_wallet.a
@@ -35,6 +29,10 @@ LIBBITCOIN_UTIL=libbitcoin_util.a
 LIBBITCOIN_CRYPTO=crypto/libbitcoin_crypto.a
 LIBBITCOIN_UNIVALUE=univalue/libbitcoin_univalue.a
 LIBBITCOINQT=qt/libbitcoinqt.a
+LIBSECP256K1=secp256k1/libsecp256k1.la
+
+$(LIBSECP256K1): $(wildcard secp256k1/src/*) $(wildcard secp256k1/include/*)
+	@$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) -C $(@D) $(@F)
 
 # Make is not made aware of per-object dependencies to avoid limiting building parallelization
 # But to build the less dependent modules first, we manually select their order here:
@@ -281,11 +279,8 @@ bitcoind_LDADD = \
   $(LIBBITCOIN_UTIL) \
   $(LIBBITCOIN_CRYPTO) \
   $(LIBLEVELDB) \
-  $(LIBMEMENV)
-
-if USE_LIBSECP256K1
-  bitcoind_LDADD += secp256k1/libsecp256k1.la
-endif
+  $(LIBMEMENV) \
+  $(LIBSECP256K1)
 
 if ENABLE_WALLET
 bitcoind_LDADD += libbitcoin_wallet.a
@@ -312,9 +307,6 @@ bitcoin_cli_LDADD = \
 bitcoin_cli_SOURCES = \
   bitcoin-cli.cpp
 
-if USE_LIBSECP256K1
-  bitcoin_cli_LDADD += secp256k1/libsecp256k1.la
-endif
 bitcoin_cli_CPPFLAGS = $(BITCOIN_INCLUDES)
 #
 
@@ -323,13 +315,9 @@ bitcoin_tx_LDADD = \
   $(LIBBITCOIN_UNIVALUE) \
   $(LIBBITCOIN_COMMON) \
   $(LIBBITCOIN_UTIL) \
-  $(LIBBITCOIN_CRYPTO)
-
-if USE_LIBSECP256K1
-  bitcoin_tx_LDADD += secp256k1/libsecp256k1.la
-endif
-
-  bitcoin_tx_LDADD += $(BOOST_LIBS) \
+  $(LIBBITCOIN_CRYPTO) \
+  $(LIBSECP256K1) \
+  $(BOOST_LIBS) \
   $(CRYPTO_LIBS)
 
 bitcoin_tx_SOURCES = bitcoin-tx.cpp
diff --git a/src/Makefile.qt.include b/src/Makefile.qt.include
index ac6d60df03..fac214bdca 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.qt.include
+++ b/src/Makefile.qt.include
@@ -360,10 +360,7 @@ if ENABLE_WALLET
 qt_bitcoin_qt_LDADD += $(LIBBITCOIN_WALLET)
 endif
 qt_bitcoin_qt_LDADD += $(LIBBITCOIN_CLI) $(LIBBITCOIN_COMMON) $(LIBBITCOIN_UTIL) $(LIBBITCOIN_CRYPTO) $(LIBBITCOIN_UNIVALUE) $(LIBLEVELDB) $(LIBMEMENV) \
-  $(BOOST_LIBS) $(QT_LIBS) $(QT_DBUS_LIBS) $(QR_LIBS) $(PROTOBUF_LIBS) $(BDB_LIBS) $(SSL_LIBS) $(CRYPTO_LIBS) $(MINIUPNPC_LIBS)
-if USE_LIBSECP256K1
-  qt_bitcoin_qt_LDADD += secp256k1/libsecp256k1.la
-endif
+  $(BOOST_LIBS) $(QT_LIBS) $(QT_DBUS_LIBS) $(QR_LIBS) $(PROTOBUF_LIBS) $(BDB_LIBS) $(SSL_LIBS) $(CRYPTO_LIBS) $(MINIUPNPC_LIBS) $(LIBSECP256K1)
 qt_bitcoin_qt_LDFLAGS = $(RELDFLAGS) $(AM_LDFLAGS) $(QT_LDFLAGS)
 qt_bitcoin_qt_LIBTOOLFLAGS = --tag CXX
 
diff --git a/src/Makefile.qttest.include b/src/Makefile.qttest.include
index 064b531b93..622411ca68 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.qttest.include
+++ b/src/Makefile.qttest.include
@@ -32,10 +32,7 @@ qt_test_test_bitcoin_qt_LDADD += $(LIBBITCOIN_WALLET)
 endif
 qt_test_test_bitcoin_qt_LDADD += $(LIBBITCOIN_CLI) $(LIBBITCOIN_COMMON) $(LIBBITCOIN_UTIL) $(LIBBITCOIN_CRYPTO) $(LIBBITCOIN_UNIVALUE) $(LIBLEVELDB) \
   $(LIBMEMENV) $(BOOST_LIBS) $(QT_DBUS_LIBS) $(QT_TEST_LIBS) $(QT_LIBS) \
-  $(QR_LIBS) $(PROTOBUF_LIBS) $(BDB_LIBS) $(SSL_LIBS) $(CRYPTO_LIBS) $(MINIUPNPC_LIBS)
-if USE_LIBSECP256K1
-  qt_test_test_bitcoin_qt_LDADD += secp256k1/libsecp256k1.la
-endif
+  $(QR_LIBS) $(PROTOBUF_LIBS) $(BDB_LIBS) $(SSL_LIBS) $(CRYPTO_LIBS) $(MINIUPNPC_LIBS) $(LIBSECP256K1)
 qt_test_test_bitcoin_qt_LDFLAGS = $(RELDFLAGS) $(AM_LDFLAGS) $(QT_LDFLAGS)
 
 CLEAN_BITCOIN_QT_TEST = $(TEST_QT_MOC_CPP) qt/test/*.gcda qt/test/*.gcno
diff --git a/src/Makefile.test.include b/src/Makefile.test.include
index 6a8d9e58a4..da5c746cc2 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.test.include
+++ b/src/Makefile.test.include
@@ -80,15 +80,11 @@ endif
 test_test_bitcoin_SOURCES = $(BITCOIN_TESTS) $(JSON_TEST_FILES) $(RAW_TEST_FILES)
 test_test_bitcoin_CPPFLAGS = $(BITCOIN_INCLUDES) -I$(builddir)/test/ $(TESTDEFS)
 test_test_bitcoin_LDADD = $(LIBBITCOIN_SERVER) $(LIBBITCOIN_CLI) $(LIBBITCOIN_COMMON) $(LIBBITCOIN_UTIL) $(LIBBITCOIN_CRYPTO) $(LIBBITCOIN_UNIVALUE) $(LIBLEVELDB) $(LIBMEMENV) \
-  $(BOOST_LIBS) $(BOOST_UNIT_TEST_FRAMEWORK_LIB)
+  $(BOOST_LIBS) $(BOOST_UNIT_TEST_FRAMEWORK_LIB) $(LIBSECP256K1)
 if ENABLE_WALLET
 test_test_bitcoin_LDADD += $(LIBBITCOIN_WALLET)
 endif
 
-if USE_LIBSECP256K1
-  test_test_bitcoin_LDADD += secp256k1/libsecp256k1.la
-endif
-
 test_test_bitcoin_LDADD += $(BDB_LIBS) $(SSL_LIBS) $(CRYPTO_LIBS) $(MINIUPNPC_LIBS)
 test_test_bitcoin_LDFLAGS = $(RELDFLAGS) $(AM_LDFLAGS)