diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 2ddbaab817..9bfb0a22f7 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # docker build . -t cosmwasm/wasmd:latest
 # docker run --rm -it cosmwasm/wasmd:latest /bin/sh
 FROM golang:1.17-alpine3.15 AS go-builder
+ARG arch=x86_64
 
 # this comes from standard alpine nightly file
 #  https://github.com/rust-lang/docker-rust-nightly/blob/master/alpine3.12/Dockerfile
@@ -15,11 +16,18 @@ WORKDIR /code
 COPY . /code/
 
 # See https://github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm/releases
-ADD https://github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm/releases/download/v1.0.0-beta7/libwasmvm_muslc.a /lib/libwasmvm_muslc.a
-RUN sha256sum /lib/libwasmvm_muslc.a | grep d0152067a5609bfdfb3f0d5d6c0f2760f79d5f2cd7fd8513cafa9932d22eb350
+ADD https://github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm/releases/download/v1.0.0-beta9/libwasmvm_muslc.aarch64.a /lib/libwasmvm_muslc.aarch64.a
+ADD https://github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm/releases/download/v1.0.0-beta9/libwasmvm_muslc.x86_64.a /lib/libwasmvm_muslc.x86_64.a
+RUN sha256sum /lib/libwasmvm_muslc.aarch64.a | grep 922ca7aa0057da68ab49572c3d3294fb2b0d1eb12786276fdb2ca099058074b0
+RUN sha256sum /lib/libwasmvm_muslc.x86_64.a | grep 2aed14e6d6f4df2a7a5d23cab4da13262e740ca51160cb9be1f2d86bd34292f2
+
+# Copy the library you want to the final location that will be found by the linker flag `-lwasmvm_muslc`
+RUN cp /lib/libwasmvm_muslc.${arch}.a /lib/libwasmvm_muslc.a
 
 # force it to use static lib (from above) not standard libgo_cosmwasm.so file
-RUN LEDGER_ENABLED=false BUILD_TAGS=muslc make build
+RUN LEDGER_ENABLED=false BUILD_TAGS=muslc LINK_STATICALLY=true make build
+RUN echo "Ensuring binary is statically linked ..." \
+  && (file /code/build/wasmd | grep "statically linked")
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------
 FROM alpine:3.15
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e11ea1b456..b9433d972b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -65,6 +65,9 @@ ldflags = -X github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/version.Name=wasm \
 ifeq ($(WITH_CLEVELDB),yes)
   ldflags += -X github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/types.DBBackend=cleveldb
 endif
+ifeq ($(LINK_STATICALLY),true)
+	ldflags += -linkmode=external -extldflags "-Wl,-z,muldefs -static"
+endif
 ldflags += $(LDFLAGS)
 ldflags := $(strip $(ldflags))
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index b20b01c5b7..6c415ee1a5 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ module github.com/CosmWasm/wasmd
 go 1.17
 
 require (
-	github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm v1.0.0-beta7
+	github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm v1.0.0-beta9
 	github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk v0.45.1
 	github.com/cosmos/iavl v0.17.3
 	github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v2 v2.2.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 6357a041e8..03eca5b3f6 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ github.com/BurntSushi/toml v1.0.0/go.mod h1:CxXYINrC8qIiEnFrOxCa7Jy5BFHlXnUU2pbi
 github.com/BurntSushi/xgb v0.0.0-20160522181843-27f122750802/go.mod h1:IVnqGOEym/WlBOVXweHU+Q+/VP0lqqI8lqeDx9IjBqo=
 github.com/ChainSafe/go-schnorrkel v0.0.0-20200405005733-88cbf1b4c40d h1:nalkkPQcITbvhmL4+C4cKA87NW0tfm3Kl9VXRoPywFg=
 github.com/ChainSafe/go-schnorrkel v0.0.0-20200405005733-88cbf1b4c40d/go.mod h1:URdX5+vg25ts3aCh8H5IFZybJYKWhJHYMTnf+ULtoC4=
-github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm v1.0.0-beta7 h1:hCa6P8tUTh8viabzeXfede5iPlopSav9Guh+hupXjvU=
-github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm v1.0.0-beta7/go.mod h1:y+yd9piV8KlrB7ISRZz1sDwH4UVm4Q9rEX9501dBNog=
+github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm v1.0.0-beta9 h1:yQJ3vQZxWyWGSyOYNvgTOMq+g8ZEB9f4OOy/2+XfYDo=
+github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm v1.0.0-beta9/go.mod h1:y+yd9piV8KlrB7ISRZz1sDwH4UVm4Q9rEX9501dBNog=
 github.com/DATA-DOG/go-sqlmock v1.5.0/go.mod h1:f/Ixk793poVmq4qj/V1dPUg2JEAKC73Q5eFN3EC/SaM=
 github.com/DataDog/datadog-go v3.2.0+incompatible/go.mod h1:LButxg5PwREeZtORoXG3tL4fMGNddJ+vMq1mwgfaqoQ=
 github.com/DataDog/zstd v1.4.1/go.mod h1:1jcaCB/ufaK+sKp1NBhlGmpz41jOoPQ35bpF36t7BBo=