diff --git a/akd_core/Cargo.toml b/akd_core/Cargo.toml
index a4931ad0..07a28dda 100644
--- a/akd_core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/akd_core/Cargo.toml
@@ -21,8 +21,10 @@ nostd = []
 # Supported configurations
 whatsapp_v1 = ["dep:blake3"]
 experimental = ["dep:blake3"]
-# Include the VRF verification logic
-vrf = ["ed25519-dalek", "curve25519-dalek"]
+# (Deprecated) The VRF verification logic is always compiled in, so this
+# feature no longer gates anything. Kept as an empty feature for backwards
+# compatibility with crates that enable `akd_core/vrf`.
+vrf = []
 serde_serialization = ["dep:serde", "dep:serde_bytes", "ed25519-dalek/serde"]
 # Parallelize VRF calculations during publish
 parallel_vrf = ["tokio"]
@@ -37,11 +39,11 @@ default = ["vrf", "experimental"]
 [dependencies]
 ## Required dependencies ##
 async-trait = "0.1"
-curve25519-dalek = { version = "4", optional = true }
+curve25519-dalek = { version = "4" }
 ed25519-dalek = { version = "2", features = [
     "digest",
     "legacy_compatibility",
-], optional = true }
+] }
 hex = "0.4"
 zeroize = "1"
 
diff --git a/akd_core/src/verify/mod.rs b/akd_core/src/verify/mod.rs
index 549d0bc6..e0b77ced 100644
--- a/akd_core/src/verify/mod.rs
+++ b/akd_core/src/verify/mod.rs
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ pub enum VerificationError {
     /// Error verifying a history proof
     HistoryProof(String),
     /// Error verifying a VRF proof
-    #[cfg(feature = "vrf")]
     Vrf(crate::ecvrf::VrfError),
     /// Error converting protobuf types during verification
     #[cfg(feature = "protobuf")]
@@ -46,7 +45,6 @@ impl core::fmt::Display for VerificationError {
             }
             VerificationError::LookupProof(err) => format!("(Lookup proof) - {err}"),
             VerificationError::HistoryProof(err) => format!("(History proof) - {err}"),
-            #[cfg(feature = "vrf")]
             VerificationError::Vrf(vrf) => vrf.to_string(),
             #[cfg(feature = "protobuf")]
             VerificationError::Serialization(proto) => proto.to_string(),
@@ -55,7 +53,6 @@ impl core::fmt::Display for VerificationError {
     }
 }
 
-#[cfg(feature = "vrf")]
 impl From<crate::ecvrf::VrfError> for VerificationError {
     fn from(input: crate::ecvrf::VrfError) -> Self {
         VerificationError::Vrf(input)