diff --git a/contrib/verifybinaries/README.md b/contrib/verifybinaries/README.md
index d43a60ca0f..516af8575f 100644
--- a/contrib/verifybinaries/README.md
+++ b/contrib/verifybinaries/README.md
@@ -12,3 +12,9 @@ Usage:
 ./verify.sh bitcoin-core-0.12.0
 ./verify.sh bitcoin-core-0.13.0-rc3
 ```
+
+If you do not want to keep the downloaded binaries, specify anything as the second parameter.
+
+```sh
+./verify.sh bitcoin-core-0.13.0 delete
+```
diff --git a/contrib/verifybinaries/verify.sh b/contrib/verifybinaries/verify.sh
index 40759c36bc..e22b911743 100755
--- a/contrib/verifybinaries/verify.sh
+++ b/contrib/verifybinaries/verify.sh
@@ -108,11 +108,16 @@ if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
    exit 1
 elif [ $? -gt 1 ]; then
    echo "Error executing 'diff'"
-   exit 2   
+   exit 2
 fi
 
-#everything matches! clean up the mess
-clean_up $FILES $SIGNATUREFILENAME $TMPFILE
+if [ -n "$2" ]; then
+   echo "Clean up the binaries"
+   clean_up $FILES $SIGNATUREFILENAME $TMPFILE
+else
+   echo "Keep the binaries in $WORKINGDIR"
+   clean_up $TMPFILE
+fi
 
 echo -e "Verified hashes of \n$FILES"