diff --git a/servers/cu/src/domain/lib/loadMessages.js b/servers/cu/src/domain/lib/loadMessages.js
index c6ae74009..ebb3485a4 100644
--- a/servers/cu/src/domain/lib/loadMessages.js
+++ b/servers/cu/src/domain/lib/loadMessages.js
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ function reconcileBlocksWith ({ loadBlocksMeta, findBlocks, saveBlocks }) {
   }
 }
 
-export function maybePrependProcessMessage (ctx, logger) {
+export function maybePrependProcessMessage (ctx, logger, loadTransactionData) {
   return async function * ($messages) {
     const isColdStart = isNil(ctx.from)
 
@@ -405,6 +405,15 @@ export function maybePrependProcessMessage (ctx, logger) {
        */
       if (done || (parseTags(value.message.Tags).Type !== 'Process') || value.message.Cron) {
         logger('Emitting process message at beginning of evaluation stream for process %s cold start', ctx.id)
+
+        /**
+         * data for a process can potentially be very large, and it's only needed
+         * as part of the very first process message sent to the process (aka. Bootloader).
+         *
+         * So in lieu of caching the process data, we fetch it once here, on cold start,
+         */
+        const processData = await loadTransactionData(ctx.id).then(res => res.text())
+
         yield {
           /**
            * Ensure the noSave flag is set, so evaluation does not persist
@@ -416,7 +425,7 @@ export function maybePrependProcessMessage (ctx, logger) {
           message: {
             Id: ctx.id,
             Signature: ctx.signature,
-            Data: ctx.data,
+            Data: processData,
             Owner: ctx.owner,
             /**
              * the target of the process message is itself
@@ -484,7 +493,7 @@ function loadScheduledMessagesWith ({ loadMessages, logger }) {
       )
 }
 
-function loadCronMessagesWith ({ loadTimestamp, findBlocks, loadBlocksMeta, saveBlocks, logger }) {
+function loadCronMessagesWith ({ loadTimestamp, findBlocks, loadBlocksMeta, loadTransactionData, saveBlocks, logger }) {
   loadTimestamp = fromPromise(loadTimestampSchema.implement(loadTimestamp))
 
   const reconcileBlocks = reconcileBlocksWith({ findBlocks, loadBlocksMeta, saveBlocks })
@@ -697,7 +706,7 @@ function loadCronMessagesWith ({ loadTimestamp, findBlocks, loadBlocksMeta, save
     .map($messages => {
       return composeStreams(
         $messages,
-        Transform.from(maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger))
+        Transform.from(maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger, loadTransactionData))
       )
     })
     .map(messages => ({ messages }))
diff --git a/servers/cu/src/domain/lib/loadMessages.test.js b/servers/cu/src/domain/lib/loadMessages.test.js
index 8c92542e2..d9210edc4 100644
--- a/servers/cu/src/domain/lib/loadMessages.test.js
+++ b/servers/cu/src/domain/lib/loadMessages.test.js
@@ -475,6 +475,11 @@ describe('loadMessages', () => {
       }
     }
 
+    const loadTransactionData = async (id) => {
+      assert.equal(id, 'process-123')
+      return new Response('process data')
+    }
+
     describe('should prepend the process message on cold start', () => {
       test('if first stream message is not the process', async () => {
         const $messages = Readable.from([
@@ -486,13 +491,14 @@ describe('loadMessages', () => {
             }
           }
         ])
-        const $merged = maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger)($messages)
+        const $merged = maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger, loadTransactionData)($messages)
 
         const results = []
         for await (const m of $merged) results.push(m)
 
         assert.equal(results.length, 2)
         assert.equal(results[0].name, 'Process Message process-123')
+        assert.equal(results[0].message.Data, 'process data')
       })
 
       test('if the first stream message is a cron message', async () => {
@@ -506,24 +512,26 @@ describe('loadMessages', () => {
             }
           }
         ])
-        const $merged = maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger)($messages)
+        const $merged = maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger, loadTransactionData)($messages)
 
         const results = []
         for await (const m of $merged) results.push(m)
 
         assert.equal(results.length, 2)
         assert.equal(results[0].name, 'Process Message process-123')
+        assert.equal(results[0].message.Data, 'process data')
       })
 
       test('if there are no messages', async () => {
         const $messages = Readable.from([])
-        const $merged = maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger)($messages)
+        const $merged = maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger, loadTransactionData)($messages)
 
         const results = []
         for await (const m of $merged) results.push(m)
 
         assert.equal(results.length, 1)
         assert.equal(results[0].name, 'Process Message process-123')
+        assert.equal(results[0].message.Data, 'process data')
       })
     })
 
@@ -546,7 +554,7 @@ describe('loadMessages', () => {
           }
         }
       ])
-      const $merged = maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger)($messages)
+      const $merged = maybePrependProcessMessage(ctx, logger, loadTransactionData)($messages)
 
       const results = []
       for await (const m of $merged) results.push(m)
diff --git a/servers/cu/src/effects/ao-process.js b/servers/cu/src/effects/ao-process.js
index ec6a9dfad..ff4c13692 100644
--- a/servers/cu/src/effects/ao-process.js
+++ b/servers/cu/src/effects/ao-process.js
@@ -419,6 +419,13 @@ export function saveProcessWith ({ db }) {
   }
   return (process) => {
     return of(process)
+      /**
+       * The data for the process could be very large, so we do not persist
+       * it, and instead hydrate it on the process message later, if needed.
+       */
+      .map(evolve({
+        data: () => null
+      }))
       /**
        * Ensure the expected shape before writing to the db
        */
diff --git a/servers/cu/src/effects/ao-process.test.js b/servers/cu/src/effects/ao-process.test.js
index 301af9c9d..278299f29 100644
--- a/servers/cu/src/effects/ao-process.test.js
+++ b/servers/cu/src/effects/ao-process.test.js
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ describe('ao-process', () => {
               assert.deepStrictEqual(parameters, [
                 'process-123',
                 'sig-123',
-                'data-123',
+                null, // data is nullified
                 null,
                 JSON.stringify({ address: 'owner-123', key: 'key-123' }),
                 JSON.stringify([{ name: 'foo', value: 'bar' }]),