diff --git a/btcutil/go.sum b/btcutil/go.sum
index 58e469abe6..5bd6215f1f 100644
--- a/btcutil/go.sum
+++ b/btcutil/go.sum
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ github.com/golang/snappy v0.0.4/go.mod h1:/XxbfmMg8lxefKM7IXC3fBNl/7bRcc72aCRzEW
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.3.0/go.mod h1:8QqcDgzrUqlUb/G2PQTWiueGozuR1884gddMywk6iLU=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.3.1/go.mod h1:8QqcDgzrUqlUb/G2PQTWiueGozuR1884gddMywk6iLU=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.4.0/go.mod h1:v8dTdLbMG2kIc/vJvl+f65V22dbkXbowE6jgT/gNBxE=
+github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.5.0 h1:PPwGk2jz7EePpoHN/+ClbZu8SPxiqlu12wZP/3sWmnc=
+github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.5.0/go.mod h1:YR8l580nyteQvAITg2hZ9XVh4b55+EU/adAjf1fMHhE=
 github.com/hpcloud/tail v1.0.0/go.mod h1:ab1qPbhIpdTxEkNHXyeSf5vhxWSCs/tWer42PpOxQnU=
 github.com/jessevdk/go-flags v1.4.0/go.mod h1:4FA24M0QyGHXBuZZK/XkWh8h0e1EYbRYJSGM75WSRxI=
 github.com/jrick/logrotate v1.0.0/go.mod h1:LNinyqDIJnpAur+b8yyulnQw/wDuN1+BYKlTRt3OuAQ=
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 2e3333acc1..4a05d30857 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/aead/siphash v1.0.1 // indirect
 	github.com/decred/dcrd/crypto/blake256 v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/golang/snappy v0.0.4 // indirect
+	github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.5.0 // indirect
 	github.com/kkdai/bstream v0.0.0-20161212061736-f391b8402d23 // indirect
 	github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.0-20200313102051-9f266ea9e77c // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 1e39ef3263..e77dfa2f5f 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ github.com/golang/snappy v0.0.4/go.mod h1:/XxbfmMg8lxefKM7IXC3fBNl/7bRcc72aCRzEW
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.3.0/go.mod h1:8QqcDgzrUqlUb/G2PQTWiueGozuR1884gddMywk6iLU=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.3.1/go.mod h1:8QqcDgzrUqlUb/G2PQTWiueGozuR1884gddMywk6iLU=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.4.0/go.mod h1:v8dTdLbMG2kIc/vJvl+f65V22dbkXbowE6jgT/gNBxE=
+github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.5.0 h1:PPwGk2jz7EePpoHN/+ClbZu8SPxiqlu12wZP/3sWmnc=
+github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.5.0/go.mod h1:YR8l580nyteQvAITg2hZ9XVh4b55+EU/adAjf1fMHhE=
 github.com/hpcloud/tail v1.0.0/go.mod h1:ab1qPbhIpdTxEkNHXyeSf5vhxWSCs/tWer42PpOxQnU=
 github.com/jessevdk/go-flags v1.4.0 h1:4IU2WS7AumrZ/40jfhf4QVDMsQwqA7VEHozFRrGARJA=
 github.com/jessevdk/go-flags v1.4.0/go.mod h1:4FA24M0QyGHXBuZZK/XkWh8h0e1EYbRYJSGM75WSRxI=
diff --git a/rpcclient/chain_test.go b/rpcclient/chain_test.go
index 16344ff9c0..cc29f99bfc 100644
--- a/rpcclient/chain_test.go
+++ b/rpcclient/chain_test.go
@@ -2,9 +2,16 @@ package rpcclient
 
 import (
 	"errors"
+	"github.com/gorilla/websocket"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 )
 
+var upgrader = websocket.Upgrader{}
+
 // TestUnmarshalGetBlockChainInfoResult ensures that the SoftForks and
 // UnifiedSoftForks fields of GetBlockChainInfoResult are properly unmarshaled
 // when using the expected backend version.
@@ -129,3 +136,117 @@ func TestFutureGetBlockCountResultReceiveMarshalsResponseCorrectly(t *testing.T)
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected response: %d (0x%X)", res, res)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestClientConnectedToWSServerRunner(t *testing.T) {
+	type TestTableItem struct {
+		Name     string
+		TestCase func(t *testing.T)
+	}
+
+	testTable := []TestTableItem{
+		TestTableItem{
+			Name: "TestGetChainTxStatsAsyncSuccessTx",
+			TestCase: func(t *testing.T) {
+				client, serverReceivedChannel, cleanup := makeClient(t)
+				defer cleanup()
+				client.GetChainTxStatsAsync()
+
+				message := <-serverReceivedChannel
+				if message != "{\"jsonrpc\":\"1.0\",\"method\":\"getchaintxstats\",\"params\":[],\"id\":1}" {
+					t.Fatalf("received unexpected message: %s", message)
+				}
+			},
+		},
+		TestTableItem{
+			Name: "TestGetChainTxStatsAsyncShutdownError",
+			TestCase: func(t *testing.T) {
+				client, _, cleanup := makeClient(t)
+				defer cleanup()
+
+				// a bit of a hack here: since there are multiple places where we read
+				// from the shutdown channel, and it is not buffered, ensure that a shutdown
+				// message is sent every time it is read from, this will ensure that
+				// when client.GetChainTxStatsAsync() gets called, it hits the non-blocking
+				// read from the shutdown channel
+				go func() {
+					type shutdownMessage struct{}
+					for {
+						client.shutdown <- shutdownMessage{}
+					}
+				}()
+
+				var response *Response = nil
+
+				for response == nil {
+					respChan := client.GetChainTxStatsAsync()
+					select {
+					case response = <-respChan:
+					default:
+					}
+				}
+
+				if response.err == nil || response.err.Error() != "the client has been shutdown" {
+					t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %s", response.err.Error())
+				}
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	// since these tests rely on concurrency, ensure there is a resonable timeout
+	// that they should run within
+	for _, testCase := range testTable {
+		done := make(chan bool)
+
+		go func() {
+			t.Run(testCase.Name, testCase.TestCase)
+			done <- true
+		}()
+
+		select {
+		case <-done:
+		case <-time.After(5 * time.Second):
+			t.Fatalf("timeout exceeded for: %s", testCase.Name)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func makeClient(t *testing.T) (*Client, chan string, func()) {
+	serverReceivedChannel := make(chan string)
+	s := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(makeUpgradeOnConnect(serverReceivedChannel)))
+	url := strings.TrimPrefix(s.URL, "http://")
+
+	config := ConnConfig{
+		DisableTLS: true,
+		User:       "username",
+		Pass:       "password",
+		Host:       url,
+	}
+
+	client, err := New(&config, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error when creating new client %s", err.Error())
+	}
+	return client, serverReceivedChannel, func() {
+		s.Close()
+	}
+}
+
+func makeUpgradeOnConnect(ch chan string) func(http.ResponseWriter, *http.Request) {
+	return func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		c, err := upgrader.Upgrade(w, r, nil)
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		defer c.Close()
+		for {
+			_, message, err := c.ReadMessage()
+			if err != nil {
+				break
+			}
+
+			go func() {
+				ch <- string(message)
+			}()
+		}
+	}
+}