diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index c1d9a0bf26..6417e2174e 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -37,3 +37,6 @@
 [submodule "submodules/fmt"]
 	path = submodules/fmt
 	url = https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt.git
+[submodule "submodules/benchmark"]
+	path = submodules/benchmark
+	url = https://github.com/google/benchmark.git
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 10d92541ca..436e1cffc0 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -737,10 +737,15 @@ if(NANO_TEST OR RAIBLOCKS_TEST)
     gtest PROPERTIES INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES
                      "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/submodules/gtest/googletest/include")
 
+  set(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_TESTING OFF)
+  add_subdirectory(submodules/benchmark)
+
   add_subdirectory(nano/test_common)
   add_subdirectory(nano/core_test)
   add_subdirectory(nano/rpc_test)
   add_subdirectory(nano/slow_test)
+  add_subdirectory(nano/benchmarks)
+
   add_custom_target(
     all_tests
     COMMAND echo "BATCH BUILDING TESTS"
diff --git a/nano/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt b/nano/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..97aa9665bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nano/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+add_executable(benchmarks entry.cpp)
+
+target_link_libraries(benchmarks test_common benchmark::benchmark)
+
+include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/submodules)
diff --git a/nano/benchmarks/entry.cpp b/nano/benchmarks/entry.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/submodules/benchmark b/submodules/benchmark
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000..eaafe694d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/submodules/benchmark
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit eaafe694d27f31fe05dd9d055da1e57c8d37a004