diff --git a/crates/chain/Cargo.toml b/crates/chain/Cargo.toml
index 949f177c8..7c230bf01 100644
--- a/crates/chain/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/chain/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ workspace = true
 [dependencies]
 bitcoin = { version = "0.32.0", default-features = false }
 bdk_core = { path = "../core", version = "0.6.2", default-features = false }
-serde = { version = "1", optional = true, features = ["derive", "rc"] }
+serde = { version = "1", optional = true, default-features = false, features = ["derive", "rc", "alloc"] }
 miniscript = { version = "13.0.0", optional = true, default-features = false }
 
 # Feature dependencies
diff --git a/crates/core/Cargo.toml b/crates/core/Cargo.toml
index ed313f3ae..30f46a781 100644
--- a/crates/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@ readme = "README.md"
 
 [dependencies]
 bitcoin = { version = "0.32", default-features = false }
-serde = { version = "1", optional = true, features = ["derive", "rc"] }
+serde = { version = "1", optional = true, default-features=false, features = ["derive"] }
 hashbrown = { version = "0.14.5", optional = true, default-features = false, features = ["ahash", "inline-more"] }
 
 [features]
 default = ["std"]
-std = ["bitcoin/std"]
+std = ["bitcoin/std", "serde?/std"]
 serde = ["dep:serde", "bitcoin/serde", "hashbrown?/serde"]
 
 [dev-dependencies]