diff --git a/packages/backend/src/nest/ipfs-file-manager/ipfs-file-manager.service.ts b/packages/backend/src/nest/ipfs-file-manager/ipfs-file-manager.service.ts
index 1863491fb..b01f5ce35 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/nest/ipfs-file-manager/ipfs-file-manager.service.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/nest/ipfs-file-manager/ipfs-file-manager.service.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import { file } from 'mock-fs/lib/filesystem'
 
 // 1048576 is the number of bytes in a block uploaded via unixfs
 // Reference: packages/backend/node_modules/@helia/unixfs/src/commands/add.ts
-const DEFAULT_CAT_BLOCK_CHUNK_SIZE = 1048576 * 10
+const DEFAULT_CAT_BLOCK_CHUNK_SIZE = 1048576 * 5
 
 @Injectable()
 export class IpfsFileManagerService extends EventEmitter {
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/nest/libp2p/libp2p.service.ts b/packages/backend/src/nest/libp2p/libp2p.service.ts
index 92c9576bf..90e81224f 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/nest/libp2p/libp2p.service.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/nest/libp2p/libp2p.service.ts
@@ -364,6 +364,7 @@ export class Libp2pService extends EventEmitter {
 
     this.libp2pInstance.addEventListener('connection:close', event => {
       this.logger.warn(`Connection closing with ${event.detail.remotePeer}`)
+      event.detail.abort(new Error(`Connection closing with ${event.detail.remotePeer}`))
     })
 
     this.libp2pInstance.addEventListener('transport:close', event => {