diff --git a/memberships/src/main/java/com/salesforce/apollo/archipelago/UnsafeExecutors.java b/memberships/src/main/java/com/salesforce/apollo/archipelago/UnsafeExecutors.java
index 5d4c19057..cd65bd4fe 100644
--- a/memberships/src/main/java/com/salesforce/apollo/archipelago/UnsafeExecutors.java
+++ b/memberships/src/main/java/com/salesforce/apollo/archipelago/UnsafeExecutors.java
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ public class UnsafeExecutors {
 
     public static ExecutorService newVirtualThreadPerTaskExecutor() {
         var executor = (ThreadPoolExecutor) Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
-        executor.setCorePoolSize(Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors());
+        executor.setCorePoolSize(Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors() * 2);
         executor.prestartAllCoreThreads();
         return virtualThreadExecutor(executor);
     }