diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index de441943ed69da78be785de9a60ab4606b39fa56..4ad17fa5119419a6284af20f0750ce3a35bcf541 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -229,8 +229,6 @@ github.com/hashicorp/serf v0.8.2/go.mod h1:6hOLApaqBFA1NXqRQAsxw9QxuDEvNxSQRwA/J
 github.com/hpcloud/tail v1.0.0 h1:nfCOvKYfkgYP8hkirhJocXT2+zOD8yUNjXaWfTlyFKI=
 github.com/hpcloud/tail v1.0.0/go.mod h1:ab1qPbhIpdTxEkNHXyeSf5vhxWSCs/tWer42PpOxQnU=
 github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.0.0/go.mod h1:PxqpIevigyE2G7u3NXJIT2ANytuPF1OarO4DADm73n8=
-github.com/iotaledger/hive.go v0.0.0-20200622211038-2db5f8e0532d h1:cyxepG077Tg1wNfbhkRhXMK9WwaN4N0dDW7T8+d3oHA=
-github.com/iotaledger/hive.go v0.0.0-20200622211038-2db5f8e0532d/go.mod h1:42UvBc41QBsuM7z1P1fABMonTJb7kGqkzshRebClQvA=
 github.com/iotaledger/hive.go v0.0.0-20200625105326-310ea88f1337 h1:F6PzAkymPcKr1vJVK3/80wiVovjkL47c9FMjUOesXGA=
 github.com/iotaledger/hive.go v0.0.0-20200625105326-310ea88f1337/go.mod h1:42UvBc41QBsuM7z1P1fABMonTJb7kGqkzshRebClQvA=
 github.com/iotaledger/iota.go v1.0.0-beta.15 h1:HI8PqerEnO1CCIqmXHJ6zh1IaSFXU+S0qlUAEKshho8=
diff --git a/plugins/pow/plugin.go b/plugins/pow/plugin.go
index 90b76e0c2f9c12eda2620417554ce286e4c95e65..d8056d6dc213d5ae053b483a43a19886fff8eb35 100644
--- a/plugins/pow/plugin.go
+++ b/plugins/pow/plugin.go
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ func run(*node.Plugin) {
 	// assure that the PoW worker is initialized
 	worker := Worker()
 
+	log.Infof("%s started: difficult=%d", PluginName, difficulty)
+
 	messagelayer.MessageParser().AddBytesFilter(builtinfilters.NewPowFilter(worker, difficulty))
 	messagelayer.MessageFactory().SetWorker(messagefactory.WorkerFunc(DoPOW))
 }
diff --git a/tools/docker-network/config.docker.json b/tools/docker-network/config.docker.json
index 34e3346867014d28ad25816dff5f5c1a5dd69705..e1fabdcb193606a723c9e7caca0089dbbd43df12 100644
--- a/tools/docker-network/config.docker.json
+++ b/tools/docker-network/config.docker.json
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
     "enablePlugins": []
   },
   "pow": {
-    "difficulty": 4,
+    "difficulty": 2,
     "numThreads": 1,
     "timeout": "10s"
   },
diff --git a/tools/integration-tests/tester/framework/parameters.go b/tools/integration-tests/tester/framework/parameters.go
index 2c71c7f89bd173d1ff23afab60563b0f2ed98d44..6d33d3632f62aed22be6184d95de4aed2a700add 100644
--- a/tools/integration-tests/tester/framework/parameters.go
+++ b/tools/integration-tests/tester/framework/parameters.go
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ var (
 	// ParaFaucetTokensPerRequest defines the tokens to send up on each faucet request message.
 	ParaFaucetTokensPerRequest int64 = 1337
 	// ParaPoWDifficulty defines the PoW difficulty.
-	ParaPoWDifficulty = 1
+	ParaPoWDifficulty = 2
 )
 
 var (
diff --git a/tools/integration-tests/tester/go.sum b/tools/integration-tests/tester/go.sum
index 820b66d561a879a5bd8c32fb0a653877e42cb942..6dbd85bccedbfb13897fc3b27bd2d0da6c5a25c5 100644
--- a/tools/integration-tests/tester/go.sum
+++ b/tools/integration-tests/tester/go.sum
@@ -260,8 +260,6 @@ github.com/hpcloud/tail v1.0.0/go.mod h1:ab1qPbhIpdTxEkNHXyeSf5vhxWSCs/tWer42PpO
 github.com/huin/goupnp v1.0.0/go.mod h1:n9v9KO1tAxYH82qOn+UTIFQDmx5n1Zxd/ClZDMX7Bnc=
 github.com/huin/goutil v0.0.0-20170803182201-1ca381bf3150/go.mod h1:PpLOETDnJ0o3iZrZfqZzyLl6l7F3c6L1oWn7OICBi6o=
 github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.0.0/go.mod h1:PxqpIevigyE2G7u3NXJIT2ANytuPF1OarO4DADm73n8=
-github.com/iotaledger/hive.go v0.0.0-20200622211038-2db5f8e0532d h1:cyxepG077Tg1wNfbhkRhXMK9WwaN4N0dDW7T8+d3oHA=
-github.com/iotaledger/hive.go v0.0.0-20200622211038-2db5f8e0532d/go.mod h1:42UvBc41QBsuM7z1P1fABMonTJb7kGqkzshRebClQvA=
 github.com/iotaledger/hive.go v0.0.0-20200625105326-310ea88f1337 h1:F6PzAkymPcKr1vJVK3/80wiVovjkL47c9FMjUOesXGA=
 github.com/iotaledger/hive.go v0.0.0-20200625105326-310ea88f1337/go.mod h1:42UvBc41QBsuM7z1P1fABMonTJb7kGqkzshRebClQvA=
 github.com/iotaledger/iota.go v1.0.0-beta.15/go.mod h1:Rn6v5hLAn8YBaJlRu1ZQdPAgKlshJR1PTeLQaft2778=