diff --git a/src/app.cpp b/src/app.cpp
index ac2acc4..a4ae24d 100644
--- a/src/app.cpp
+++ b/src/app.cpp
@@ -4298,7 +4298,7 @@ void App::maybeOfferDaemonUpdate()
 {
     if (!supportsFullNodeLifecycleActions()) return;   // lite / no embedded-daemon build
     if (capture_mode_ || !settings_) return;           // never during a UI sweep
-    auto inst = resources::getInstalledDaemonInfo();
+    auto inst = resources::getInstalledDaemonInfo(/*scanVersion=*/false);   // only exists/size are used here
     auto bun  = resources::getBundledDaemonInfo();
     // Only when a daemon is ALREADY installed and its size differs from the bundled one — an absent
     // daemon is extracted normally, and a same-size match needs nothing. Fire once per bundled
diff --git a/src/resources/embedded_resources.cpp b/src/resources/embedded_resources.cpp
index e144eb9..3742f1c 100644
--- a/src/resources/embedded_resources.cpp
+++ b/src/resources/embedded_resources.cpp
@@ -663,7 +663,7 @@ static std::string scanBinaryVersion(const uint8_t* data, std::size_t size)
     return "";
 }
 
-DaemonBinaryInfo getInstalledDaemonInfo()
+DaemonBinaryInfo getInstalledDaemonInfo(bool scanVersion)
 {
     DaemonBinaryInfo info;
     std::string daemonDir = getDaemonDirectory();
@@ -688,6 +688,7 @@ DaemonBinaryInfo getInstalledDaemonInfo()
     }
 
     // Read the binary and scan for its version stamp (one-off; caller caches the result).
+    if (!scanVersion) return info;
     std::ifstream f(info.path, std::ios::binary);
     if (f) {
         f.seekg(0, std::ios::end);
diff --git a/src/resources/embedded_resources.h b/src/resources/embedded_resources.h
index ae8f0a7..38c5a7e 100644
--- a/src/resources/embedded_resources.h
+++ b/src/resources/embedded_resources.h
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ struct BundledDaemonInfo {
 };
 
 // Read + scan the installed dragonxd (reads the file; call off the UI thread or cache the result).
-DaemonBinaryInfo getInstalledDaemonInfo();
+// scanVersion=false: stat only (exists / size / modifiedEpoch), no 16 MB read.
+DaemonBinaryInfo getInstalledDaemonInfo(bool scanVersion = true);
 // Info about the bundled daemon (scans the embedded bytes once, cached).
 BundledDaemonInfo getBundledDaemonInfo();
 // Force-overwrite the installed dragonx binaries (dragonxd/cli/tx) with the bundled ones. The