diff --git a/.cargo/config.toml b/.cargo/config.toml
index 830425f410..3e7c829b0a 100644
--- a/.cargo/config.toml
+++ b/.cargo/config.toml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 [env]
+CAIRO_NATIVE_RUNTIME_LIBRARY = "./libcairo_native_runtime.a"
 LLVM_SYS_191_PREFIX = "/usr/lib/llvm-19/"
 MLIR_SYS_190_PREFIX = "/usr/lib/llvm-19/"
 TABLEGEN_190_PREFIX = "/usr/lib/llvm-19/"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/blockifier_ci.yml b/.github/workflows/blockifier_ci.yml
index a38152d4f0..ec3655e2bf 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/blockifier_ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/blockifier_ci.yml
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: starkware-ubuntu-20-04-medium
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          # required to clone native as a gitsubmodule
+          submodules: recursive
+          fetch-depth: 0
       - uses: ./.github/actions/bootstrap
       # No features - build blockifier without features activated by dependencies in the workspace.
       - run: cargo build -p blockifier
@@ -51,6 +55,6 @@ jobs:
       # transaction_serde is not activated by any workspace crate; test the build.
       - run: cargo build -p blockifier --features transaction_serde
       - run: cargo test -p blockifier --features transaction_serde
-        # cairo_native is not activated by any workspace crate; test the build.
+      # cairo_native is not activated by any workspace crate; test the build.
       - run: cargo build -p blockifier --features cairo_native
       - run: cargo test -p blockifier --features cairo_native
diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 4c846cd17a..72d8e43430 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ jobs:
       # Environment setup.
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
+          # required to clone native as a git submodule
+          submodules: recursive
           # Fetch the entire history. Required to checkout the merge target commit, so the diff can
           # be computed.
           fetch-depth: 0
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cab3c61de7..86d3bfa13c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -37,3 +37,6 @@ scripts/papyrus/p2p_sync_e2e_test/data_server/
 # Papyrus helm chart
 deployments/papyrus/helm/config/*
 !deployments/papyrus/helm/config/example.json
+
+# Generated file used for running contracts compiled with Cairo Native
+crates/blockifier/libcairo_native_runtime.a
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8ce19f6d3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "crates/blockifier/cairo_native"]
+    path = crates/blockifier/cairo_native
+    url = https://github.com/lambdaclass/cairo_native
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 22435f32ab..f418a81467 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ cairo-lang-sierra = "=2.8.4"
 cairo-lang-sierra-to-casm = "2.8.4"
 cairo-lang-starknet-classes = "2.8.4"
 cairo-lang-utils = "2.8.4"
+# Important: when updated, make sure to update the cairo-native submodule as well.
 cairo-native = "0.2.0-alpha.4"
 cairo-vm = "=1.0.1"
 camelpaste = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/crates/blockifier/build.rs b/crates/blockifier/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1a45e506bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/blockifier/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+use std::process::Command;
+
+fn compile_cairo_native_aot_runtime() {
+    let cairo_native_dir = std::env::current_dir()
+        .expect("Failed to get current directory")
+        .join(PathBuf::from("cairo_native"));
+
+    if !cairo_native_dir.exists() || !cairo_native_dir.join(".git").exists() {
+        panic!(
+            "It seems git submodule at {} doesn't exist or it is not initialized, please \
+             run:\n\ngit submodule update --init --recursive\n",
+            cairo_native_dir.to_str().unwrap()
+        );
+    }
+
+    let runtime_target_dir = cairo_native_dir.join(PathBuf::from("target"));
+    let status = Command::new("cargo")
+        .args([
+            "build",
+            "--release",
+            "-p",
+            "cairo-native-runtime",
+            "--message-format=json",
+            "--target-dir",
+            runtime_target_dir.to_str().unwrap(),
+        ])
+        .current_dir(cairo_native_dir)
+        .status()
+        .expect("Failed to execute cargo");
+    if !status.success() {
+        panic!("Building cairo native runtime failed: {status}")
+    }
+
+    let runtime_target_path =
+        runtime_target_dir.join(PathBuf::from("release/libcairo_native_runtime.a"));
+
+    const RUNTIME_LIBRARY: &str = "CAIRO_NATIVE_RUNTIME_LIBRARY";
+    let runtime_expected_path = {
+        let expected_path_env =
+            std::env::var(RUNTIME_LIBRARY).expect("Cairo Native rutime path variable is not set");
+        let expected_path = PathBuf::from(&expected_path_env);
+
+        if expected_path.is_absolute() {
+            expected_path
+        } else {
+            std::env::current_dir().expect("Failed to get current directory").join(expected_path)
+        }
+    };
+
+    std::fs::copy(&runtime_target_path, &runtime_expected_path)
+        .expect("Failed to copy native runtime");
+
+    println!("cargo::rerun-if-changed=./cairo_native/runtime/");
+    // todo(rodrigo): this directive seems to cause the build script to trigger everytime on
+    // Linux based machines. Investigate the issue further.
+    println!("cargo::rerun-if-changed={}", runtime_expected_path.to_str().unwrap());
+    println!("cargo::rerun-if-env-changed={RUNTIME_LIBRARY}");
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    // `CARGO_FEATURE_CAIRO_NATIVE` env var is set by Cargo when compiling with the `cairo_native`
+    // feature flag. Build instructions are defined behind this condition since they are only
+    // relevant when using Cairo Native.
+    if std::env::var("CARGO_FEATURE_CAIRO_NATIVE").is_ok() {
+        compile_cairo_native_aot_runtime();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/blockifier/cairo_native b/crates/blockifier/cairo_native
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000..b5769e4f6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/blockifier/cairo_native
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit b5769e4f6ba914b36eef68e0b1f71c791d7d075c
diff --git a/taplo.toml b/taplo.toml
index 9b57998302..58df6262cd 100644
--- a/taplo.toml
+++ b/taplo.toml
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-exclude = ["crates/native_blockifier/.cargo/config.toml"]
+exclude = [
+  "crates/blockifier/cairo_native/**/*.toml",
+  "crates/native_blockifier/.cargo/config.toml",
+]
 
 [formatting]
 column_width = 100