diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3235870..dd335dd 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -281,9 +281,8 @@ include_directories(external/src/mx25519)
 include_directories(${UV_INCLUDE_DIR})
 include_directories(external/src/cppzmq)
 include_directories(${ZMQ_INCLUDE_DIR})
-if (WITH_RANDOMX)
-	include_directories(external/src/RandomX/src)
-endif()
+# RandomX/src needed unconditionally for blake2 (used by carrot_crypto.cpp)
+include_directories(external/src/RandomX/src)
 include_directories(external/src/rapidjson/include)
 include_directories(external/src/robin-hood-hashing/src/include)
 if (WITH_UPNP)