diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fd54330..35971aa 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [standard-version](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/standard-version) for commit guidelines.
 
+### [0.0.1-alpha.11](https://github.com/DIG-Network/dig-propagation-server/compare/v0.0.1-alpha.10...v0.0.1-alpha.11) (2024-09-18)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* add cache to store ownership check ([b54bc13](https://github.com/DIG-Network/dig-propagation-server/commit/b54bc13a988997261f185c07b2dcc427e64cae95))
+
 ### [0.0.1-alpha.10](https://github.com/DIG-Network/dig-propagation-server/compare/v0.0.1-alpha.9...v0.0.1-alpha.10) (2024-09-17)
 
 
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index e3edcbe..6b604b1 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,18 +1,19 @@
 {
   "name": "dig-propagation-server",
-  "version": "0.0.1-alpha.10",
+  "version": "0.0.1-alpha.11",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "dig-propagation-server",
-      "version": "0.0.1-alpha.10",
+      "version": "0.0.1-alpha.11",
       "license": "ISC",
       "dependencies": {
         "@dignetwork/dig-sdk": "^0.0.1-alpha.18",
         "async-mutex": "^0.5.0",
         "chia-server-coin": "^0.0.5",
         "express": "^4.19.2",
+        "node-cache": "^5.1.2",
         "toad-scheduler": "^3.0.1"
       },
       "bin": {
@@ -1314,6 +1315,14 @@
         "url": "https://github.com/chalk/wrap-ansi?sponsor=1"
       }
     },
+    "node_modules/clone": {
+      "version": "2.1.2",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/clone/-/clone-2.1.2.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-3Pe/CF1Nn94hyhIYpjtiLhdCoEoz0DqQ+988E9gmeEdQZlojxnOb74wctFyuwWQHzqyf9X7C7MG8juUpqBJT8w==",
+      "engines": {
+        "node": ">=0.8"
+      }
+    },
     "node_modules/color-convert": {
       "version": "2.0.1",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/color-convert/-/color-convert-2.0.1.tgz",
@@ -3653,6 +3662,17 @@
       "integrity": "sha512-Yd3UES5mWCSqR+qNT93S3UoYUkqAZ9lLg8a7g9rimsWmYGK8cVToA4/sF3RrshdyV3sAGMXVUmpMYOw+dLpOuw==",
       "dev": true
     },
+    "node_modules/node-cache": {
+      "version": "5.1.2",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/node-cache/-/node-cache-5.1.2.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-t1QzWwnk4sjLWaQAS8CHgOJ+RAfmHpxFWmc36IWTiWHQfs0w5JDMBS1b1ZxQteo0vVVuWJvIUKHDkkeK7vIGCg==",
+      "dependencies": {
+        "clone": "2.x"
+      },
+      "engines": {
+        "node": ">= 8.0.0"
+      }
+    },
     "node_modules/noms": {
       "version": "0.0.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/noms/-/noms-0.0.0.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e229275..2fc8aa0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "dig-propagation-server",
-  "version": "0.0.1-alpha.10",
+  "version": "0.0.1-alpha.11",
   "description": "",
   "type": "commonjs",
   "main": "./dist/index.js",
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
     "async-mutex": "^0.5.0",
     "chia-server-coin": "^0.0.5",
     "express": "^4.19.2",
+    "node-cache": "^5.1.2",
     "toad-scheduler": "^3.0.1"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/src/controllers/merkleTreeController.ts b/src/controllers/merkleTreeController.ts
index a19c1e8..4521091 100644
--- a/src/controllers/merkleTreeController.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/merkleTreeController.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import fs from "fs";
 import path from "path";
 import { Request, Response } from "express";
+import NodeCache from "node-cache";
 import { getCredentials } from "../utils/authUtils";
 import { HttpError } from "../utils/HttpError";
 import { generateNonce } from "../utils/nonce";
@@ -13,6 +14,12 @@ import { getStorageLocation } from "../utils/storage";
 
 const streamPipeline = promisify(pipeline);
 
+// Create a cache instance with 1 minute TTL (time-to-live)
+const storeOwnerCache = new NodeCache({ stdTTL: 60 });
+const generateCacheKey = (publicKey: string, storeId: string): string => {
+  return `${publicKey}_${storeId}`;
+};
+
 const digFolderPath = getStorageLocation();
 
 export const storeStatus = async (
@@ -245,16 +252,27 @@ export const putStore = async (req: Request, res: Response): Promise<void> => {
 
     // Check store ownership
     console.log("Checking store ownership...");
-    const dataStore = DataStore.from(storeId);
 
-    //const isOwner = await dataStore.hasMetaWritePermissions(
-   //   Buffer.from(publicKey, "hex")
-    //);
+    const cacheKey = generateCacheKey(publicKey, storeId);
+    let isOwner = storeOwnerCache.get<boolean>(cacheKey);
+
+    if (isOwner === undefined) {
+      // If not in cache, check ownership and cache the result
+      const dataStore = DataStore.from(storeId);
+      isOwner = await dataStore.hasMetaWritePermissions(
+        Buffer.from(publicKey, "hex")
+      );
 
-   // if (!isOwner) {
-   //   console.log("User does not have write access to this store.");
-   //   throw new HttpError(403, "You do not have write access to this store.");
-    //}
+      // Cache the result for 1 minute (60 seconds)
+      storeOwnerCache.set(cacheKey, isOwner);
+    } else {
+      console.log("Using cached isOwner value for publicKey and storeId:", cacheKey);
+    }
+
+    if (!isOwner) {
+      console.log("User does not have write access to this store.");
+      throw new HttpError(403, "You do not have write access to this store.");
+    }
 
     console.log("User has write access to the store.");