diff --git a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/Cargo.toml b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/Cargo.toml
index c966818173d..c8978386a67 100644
--- a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/Cargo.toml
+++ b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ near-primitives-core.workspace = true
 anyhow.workspace = true
 
 [features]
-build_wallet_contract = []
 nightly_protocol = [
   "near-vm-runner/nightly_protocol",
 ]
diff --git a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/README.md b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/README.md
index b601d22ea21..51ca7112bc9 100644
--- a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/README.md
+++ b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/README.md
@@ -4,8 +4,12 @@ See https://github.com/near/NEPs/issues/518.
 
 Must not use in production!
 
+Currently, the contract can only be used in nightly build.
+The `build.rs` generates WASM file and saves it to the `./res` directory.
+
 If you want to use the contract from nearcore, add this crate as a dependency
 to the Cargo.toml and use `near_wallet_contract::wallet_contract()`.
 
-The contract can be rebuilt by `build.rs` if you run `cargo build` with `--features build_wallet_contract` flag.
-It would generate WASM file and save it to the `./res` directory.
+In order to review changes to the WASM file, rebuild the wallet contract locally
+(remove it beforehand to make sure it was rebuilt later) and check the hashes
+by running `check_wallet_contract` and `check_wallet_contract_magic_bytes` tests in `src/lib.rs`.
diff --git a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/build.rs b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/build.rs
index 7066696e55a..968bbf0a82b 100644
--- a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/build.rs
+++ b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/build.rs
@@ -1,18 +1,15 @@
 /// This file is run as a part of `cargo build` process and it builds the `Wallet Contract`.
 /// The generated WASM file is put to the `./res` directory.
-use anyhow::{anyhow, Context, Result};
+use anyhow::{anyhow, Context, Ok, Result};
 
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
-use std::process::{exit, Command};
+use std::process::Command;
 
-fn main() {
-    if cfg!(not(feature = "build_wallet_contract")) {
-        return;
+fn main() -> Result<()> {
+    if cfg!(not(feature = "nightly")) {
+        return Ok(());
     }
-    build_contract("./wallet-contract", &[], "wallet_contract").unwrap_or_else(|err| {
-        eprintln!("Error: {}", err);
-        exit(1);
-    });
+    build_contract("./wallet-contract", &[], "wallet_contract")
 }
 
 fn build_contract(dir: &str, args: &[&str], output: &str) -> Result<()> {
diff --git a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/res/.gitignore b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/res/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..917660a3481
--- /dev/null
+++ b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/res/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*.wasm
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/res/wallet_contract.wasm b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/res/wallet_contract.wasm
deleted file mode 100755
index 95df1c33c4f..00000000000
Binary files a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/res/wallet_contract.wasm and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/src/lib.rs b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/src/lib.rs
index 77c3d74916b..7d5c36402fa 100644
--- a/runtime/near-wallet-contract/src/lib.rs
+++ b/runtime/near-wallet-contract/src/lib.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ pub fn wallet_contract() -> Arc<ContractCode> {
 
 /// Include the WASM file content directly in the binary at compile time.
 fn read_contract() -> ContractCode {
-    let code = include_bytes!("../res/wallet_contract.wasm");
+    let code: &[u8] =
+        if cfg!(feature = "nightly") { include_bytes!("../res/wallet_contract.wasm") } else { &[] };
     ContractCode::new(code.to_vec(), None)
 }
 
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ pub fn wallet_contract_magic_bytes() -> Arc<ContractCode> {
         .clone()
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "nightly")]
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use crate::{wallet_contract, wallet_contract_magic_bytes};
diff --git a/runtime/runtime/src/actions.rs b/runtime/runtime/src/actions.rs
index 7ca55deef45..d03d5164016 100644
--- a/runtime/runtime/src/actions.rs
+++ b/runtime/runtime/src/actions.rs
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ fn get_contract_code(
     if checked_feature!("stable", EthImplicitAccounts, protocol_version)
         && account_id.get_account_type() == AccountType::EthImplicitAccount
     {
-        debug_assert!(code_hash == *wallet_contract_magic_bytes().hash());
+        assert!(code_hash == *wallet_contract_magic_bytes().hash());
         return Ok(Some(wallet_contract()));
     }
     runtime_ext.get_code(code_hash).map(|option| option.map(Arc::new))