diff --git a/neo.UnitTests/TestUtils.cs b/neo.UnitTests/TestUtils.cs
index c8625a4e04..9bf06acbf7 100644
--- a/neo.UnitTests/TestUtils.cs
+++ b/neo.UnitTests/TestUtils.cs
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ public static Transaction CreateRandomHashTransaction()
                     new Witness
                     {
                         InvocationScript = new byte[0],
-                        VerificationScript = new byte[1]
+                        VerificationScript = new byte[0]
                     }
                 }
             };
diff --git a/neo/Network/P2P/Payloads/Witness.cs b/neo/Network/P2P/Payloads/Witness.cs
index b02d521dcc..237a954642 100644
--- a/neo/Network/P2P/Payloads/Witness.cs
+++ b/neo/Network/P2P/Payloads/Witness.cs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 using Neo.IO;
 using Neo.IO.Json;
 using Neo.SmartContract;
-using System;
+using Neo.VM;
 using System.IO;
 
 namespace Neo.Network.P2P.Payloads
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@ void ISerializable.Deserialize(BinaryReader reader)
         {
             InvocationScript = reader.ReadVarBytes(65536);
             VerificationScript = reader.ReadVarBytes(65536);
-            if (VerificationScript.Length == 0)
-                throw new FormatException();
         }
 
         void ISerializable.Serialize(BinaryWriter writer)
diff --git a/neo/SmartContract/Helper.cs b/neo/SmartContract/Helper.cs
index 3cf40a42d8..f40dad212e 100644
--- a/neo/SmartContract/Helper.cs
+++ b/neo/SmartContract/Helper.cs
@@ -262,10 +262,19 @@ internal static bool VerifyWitnesses(this IVerifiable verifiable, Snapshot snaps
             if (hashes.Length != verifiable.Witnesses.Length) return false;
             for (int i = 0; i < hashes.Length; i++)
             {
-                if (hashes[i] != verifiable.Witnesses[i].ScriptHash) return false;
+                byte[] verification = verifiable.Witnesses[i].VerificationScript;
+                if (verification.Length == 0)
+                {
+                    verification = snapshot.Contracts.TryGet(hashes[i])?.Script;
+                    if (verification is null) return false;
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    if (hashes[i] != verifiable.Witnesses[i].ScriptHash) return false;
+                }
                 using (ApplicationEngine engine = new ApplicationEngine(TriggerType.Verification, verifiable, snapshot, gas))
                 {
-                    engine.LoadScript(verifiable.Witnesses[i].VerificationScript);
+                    engine.LoadScript(verification);
                     engine.LoadScript(verifiable.Witnesses[i].InvocationScript);
                     if (engine.Execute().HasFlag(VMState.FAULT)) return false;
                     if (engine.ResultStack.Count != 1 || !engine.ResultStack.Pop().GetBoolean()) return false;
diff --git a/neo/SmartContract/InteropService.NEO.cs b/neo/SmartContract/InteropService.NEO.cs
index 812a2d7155..5787cebdb4 100644
--- a/neo/SmartContract/InteropService.NEO.cs
+++ b/neo/SmartContract/InteropService.NEO.cs
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ private static bool Transaction_GetWitnesses(ApplicationEngine engine)
                 if (tx == null) return false;
                 if (tx.Witnesses.Length > engine.MaxArraySize)
                     return false;
-                engine.CurrentContext.EvaluationStack.Push(tx.Witnesses.Select(p => StackItem.FromInterface(p)).ToArray());
+                engine.CurrentContext.EvaluationStack.Push(WitnessWrapper.Create(tx, engine.Snapshot).Select(p => StackItem.FromInterface(p)).ToArray());
                 return true;
             }
             return false;
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ private static bool Witness_GetVerificationScript(ApplicationEngine engine)
         {
             if (engine.CurrentContext.EvaluationStack.Pop() is InteropInterface _interface)
             {
-                Witness witness = _interface.GetInterface<Witness>();
+                WitnessWrapper witness = _interface.GetInterface<WitnessWrapper>();
                 if (witness == null) return false;
                 engine.CurrentContext.EvaluationStack.Push(witness.VerificationScript);
                 return true;
diff --git a/neo/SmartContract/WitnessWrapper.cs b/neo/SmartContract/WitnessWrapper.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f67690cad5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/neo/SmartContract/WitnessWrapper.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+using Neo.Network.P2P.Payloads;
+using Neo.Persistence;
+using System.Linq;
+
+namespace Neo.SmartContract
+{
+    internal class WitnessWrapper
+    {
+        public byte[] VerificationScript;
+
+        public static WitnessWrapper[] Create(IVerifiable verifiable, Snapshot snapshot)
+        {
+            WitnessWrapper[] wrappers = verifiable.Witnesses.Select(p => new WitnessWrapper
+            {
+                VerificationScript = p.VerificationScript
+            }).ToArray();
+            if (wrappers.Any(p => p.VerificationScript.Length == 0))
+            {
+                UInt160[] hashes = verifiable.GetScriptHashesForVerifying(snapshot);
+                for (int i = 0; i < wrappers.Length; i++)
+                    if (wrappers[i].VerificationScript.Length == 0)
+                        wrappers[i].VerificationScript = snapshot.Contracts[hashes[i]].Script;
+            }
+            return wrappers;
+        }
+    }
+}