diff --git a/src/main/java/org/qortal/controller/arbitrary/ArbitraryDataManager.java b/src/main/java/org/qortal/controller/arbitrary/ArbitraryDataManager.java
index 9718461c..2515f215 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/qortal/controller/arbitrary/ArbitraryDataManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/qortal/controller/arbitrary/ArbitraryDataManager.java
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ public class ArbitraryDataManager extends Thread {
 	private static final Logger LOGGER = LogManager.getLogger(ArbitraryDataManager.class);
 	private static final List<TransactionType> ARBITRARY_TX_TYPE = Arrays.asList(TransactionType.ARBITRARY);
 
+	/** Difficulty (leading zero bits) used in arbitrary data transactions
+	 * Set here so that it can be more easily reduced when running unit tests */
+	private int powDifficulty = 12; // Must not be final, as unit tests need to reduce this value
+
 	/** Request timeout when transferring arbitrary data */
 	public static final long ARBITRARY_REQUEST_TIMEOUT = 6 * 1000L; // ms
 
@@ -415,4 +419,9 @@ public class ArbitraryDataManager extends Thread {
 		}
 	}
 
+
+	public int getPowDifficulty() {
+		return this.powDifficulty;
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/qortal/transaction/ArbitraryTransaction.java b/src/main/java/org/qortal/transaction/ArbitraryTransaction.java
index 2da33f9e..d8740351 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/qortal/transaction/ArbitraryTransaction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/qortal/transaction/ArbitraryTransaction.java
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ public class ArbitraryTransaction extends Transaction {
 	public static final int MAX_METADATA_LENGTH = 32;
 	public static final int HASH_LENGTH = TransactionTransformer.SHA256_LENGTH;
 	public static final int POW_BUFFER_SIZE = 8 * 1024 * 1024; // bytes
-	public static final int POW_DIFFICULTY = 12; // leading zero bits
 	public static final int MAX_IDENTIFIER_LENGTH = 64;
 
 	// Constructors
@@ -75,7 +74,8 @@ public class ArbitraryTransaction extends Transaction {
 		ArbitraryTransactionTransformer.clearNonce(transactionBytes);
 
 		// Calculate nonce
-		this.arbitraryTransactionData.setNonce(MemoryPoW.compute2(transactionBytes, POW_BUFFER_SIZE, POW_DIFFICULTY));
+		int difficulty = ArbitraryDataManager.getInstance().getPowDifficulty();
+		this.arbitraryTransactionData.setNonce(MemoryPoW.compute2(transactionBytes, POW_BUFFER_SIZE, difficulty));
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -196,7 +196,8 @@ public class ArbitraryTransaction extends Transaction {
 			ArbitraryTransactionTransformer.clearNonce(transactionBytes);
 
 			// Check nonce
-			return MemoryPoW.verify2(transactionBytes, POW_BUFFER_SIZE, POW_DIFFICULTY, nonce);
+			int difficulty = ArbitraryDataManager.getInstance().getPowDifficulty();
+			return MemoryPoW.verify2(transactionBytes, POW_BUFFER_SIZE, difficulty, nonce);
 		}
 
 		return true;