diff --git a/kvdb-rocksdb/Cargo.toml b/kvdb-rocksdb/Cargo.toml
index 2f67b8d99..6bb197705 100644
--- a/kvdb-rocksdb/Cargo.toml
+++ b/kvdb-rocksdb/Cargo.toml
@@ -31,3 +31,7 @@ ethereum-types = { path = "../ethereum-types" }
 kvdb-shared-tests = { path = "../kvdb-shared-tests", version = "0.2" }
 rand = "0.7.2"
 tempdir = "0.3.7"
+keccak-hash = { path = "../keccak-hash" }
+sysinfo = "0.11.7"
+ctrlc = "3.1.4"
+time = "0.1"
diff --git a/kvdb-rocksdb/examples/memtest.rs b/kvdb-rocksdb/examples/memtest.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59fa1a137
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kvdb-rocksdb/examples/memtest.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+// Copyright 2020 Parity Technologies (UK) Ltd.
+// This file is part of Parity Ethereum.
+
+// Parity Ethereum is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+
+// Parity Ethereum is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with Parity Ethereum.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+// This program starts writing random data to the database with 100 (COLUMN_COUNT)
+// columns and never stops until interrupted.
+
+use ethereum_types::H256;
+use keccak_hash::keccak;
+use kvdb_rocksdb::{Database, DatabaseConfig};
+use std::sync::{atomic::AtomicBool, atomic::Ordering as AtomicOrdering, Arc};
+use sysinfo::{get_current_pid, ProcessExt, System, SystemExt};
+
+const COLUMN_COUNT: u32 = 100;
+
+#[derive(Clone)]
+struct KeyValueSeed {
+	seed: H256,
+	key: H256,
+	val: H256,
+}
+
+fn next(seed: H256) -> H256 {
+	let mut buf = [0u8; 33];
+	buf[0..32].copy_from_slice(&seed[..]);
+	buf[32] = 1;
+
+	keccak(&buf[..])
+}
+
+impl KeyValueSeed {
+	fn with_seed(seed: H256) -> Self {
+		KeyValueSeed { seed, key: next(seed), val: next(next(seed)) }
+	}
+
+	fn new() -> Self {
+		Self::with_seed(H256::random())
+	}
+}
+
+impl Iterator for KeyValueSeed {
+	type Item = (H256, H256);
+
+	fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {
+		let result = (self.key, self.val);
+		self.key = next(self.val);
+		self.val = next(self.key);
+
+		Some(result)
+	}
+}
+
+fn proc_memory_usage() -> u64 {
+	let mut sys = System::new();
+	let self_pid = get_current_pid().ok();
+	let memory = if let Some(self_pid) = self_pid {
+		if sys.refresh_process(self_pid) {
+			let proc = sys.get_process(self_pid).expect("Above refresh_process succeeds, this should be Some(), qed");
+			proc.memory()
+		} else {
+			0
+		}
+	} else {
+		0
+	};
+
+	memory
+}
+
+fn main() {
+	let mb_per_col = std::env::args()
+		.nth(1)
+		.map(|arg| arg.parse().expect("Megabytes per col - should be integer or missing"))
+		.unwrap_or(1);
+
+	let exit = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false));
+	let ctrlc_exit = exit.clone();
+
+	ctrlc::set_handler(move || {
+		println!("\nRemoving temp database...\n");
+		ctrlc_exit.store(true, AtomicOrdering::Relaxed);
+	})
+	.expect("Error setting Ctrl-C handler");
+
+	let mut config = DatabaseConfig::with_columns(COLUMN_COUNT);
+
+	for c in 0..=COLUMN_COUNT {
+		config.memory_budget.insert(c, mb_per_col);
+	}
+	let dir = tempdir::TempDir::new("rocksdb-example").unwrap();
+
+	println!("Database is put in: {} (maybe check if it was deleted)", dir.path().to_string_lossy());
+	let db = Database::open(&config, &dir.path().to_string_lossy()).unwrap();
+
+	let mut step = 0;
+	let mut keyvalues = KeyValueSeed::new();
+	while !exit.load(AtomicOrdering::Relaxed) {
+		let col = step % 100;
+
+		let key_values: Vec<(H256, H256)> = keyvalues.clone().take(128).collect();
+		let mut transaction = db.transaction();
+		for (k, v) in key_values.iter() {
+			transaction.put(col, k.as_ref(), v.as_ref());
+		}
+		db.write(transaction).expect("writing failed");
+
+		let mut seed = H256::zero();
+		for (k, _) in key_values.iter() {
+			let mut buf = [0u8; 64];
+			buf[0..32].copy_from_slice(seed.as_ref());
+			let val = db.get(col, k.as_ref()).expect("Db fail").expect("Was put above");
+			buf[32..64].copy_from_slice(val.as_ref());
+
+			seed = keccak(&buf[..]);
+		}
+
+		let mut transaction = db.transaction();
+		// delete all but one to avoid too much bloating
+		for (k, _) in key_values.iter().take(127) {
+			transaction.delete(col, k.as_ref());
+		}
+		db.write(transaction).expect("delete failed");
+
+		keyvalues = KeyValueSeed::with_seed(seed);
+
+		if step % 10000 == 9999 {
+			let timestamp = time::strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", &time::now()).expect("Error formatting log timestamp");
+
+			println!("{}", timestamp);
+			println!("\tData written: {} keys - {} Mb", step + 1, ((step + 1) * 64 * 128) / 1024 / 1024);
+			println!("\tProcess memory used as seen by the OS: {} Mb", proc_memory_usage() / 1024);
+			println!("\tMemory used as reported by rocksdb: {} Mb\n", parity_util_mem::malloc_size(&db) / 1024 / 1024);
+		}
+
+		step += 1;
+	}
+}