diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fec4d2b9e4501fc850c5248394cd1a73f9c992f3..ca1ce2f450adc0354570cc7ebbd50dc2d5f622d3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Removed
+- Remove support for `--binaryen-as-dependency` - [#251](https://github.com/paritytech/cargo-contract/pull/251)
+
 ## [0.11.1] - 2021-04-06
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 632b22b5fb6b0546be3c6e5411a2a2a98f4bb8af..c8ff617ef936b0ce586112e9833d5b415085844a 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ wabt = "0.10.0"
 
 [features]
 default = []
-binaryen-as-dependency = ["binaryen"]
 
 # Enable this for (experimental) commands to deploy, instantiate and call contracts.
 #
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ce3512f3dbf898da0f03a6f5a3161229c7e1271d..5869c4f65edc19817ae33c8c6631b4f49c576968 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,22 +10,17 @@ A CLI tool for helping setting up and managing WebAssembly smart contracts writt
 
 `rust-src` is a prerequisite: `rustup component add rust-src`.
 
-We optimize the resulting contract Wasm using `binaryen`. You have two options for installing it:
-
-  - _The preferred way:_  
-    Install [`binaryen`](https://github.com/WebAssembly/binaryen#tools) with a version >= 99.
-    Many package managers have it available nowadays:
-    
-    * [Debian/Ubuntu](https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/binaryen): `apt-get install binaryen`
-    * [Homebrew](https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/binaryen): `brew install binaryen`
-    * [Arch Linux](https://archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/binaryen/): `pacman -S binaryen`
-    * Windows: [binary releases are available](https://github.com/WebAssembly/binaryen/releases)
-      
-    After you've installed the package execute `cargo install --force cargo-contract`.
-
-  - _Build `binaryen` as a dependency when installing `cargo-contract`:_  
-    A C++14 compiler and python >= 3.5 is required.
-    Execute `cargo install --force --features binaryen-as-dependency cargo-contract`.
+`binaryen` is a prerequisite as well, we use it for optimizing the contract Wasm. 
+
+Install [`binaryen`](https://github.com/WebAssembly/binaryen#tools) with a version >= 99.
+Many package managers have it available nowadays:
+
+* [Debian/Ubuntu](https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/binaryen): `apt-get install binaryen`
+* [Homebrew](https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/binaryen): `brew install binaryen`
+* [Arch Linux](https://archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/binaryen/): `pacman -S binaryen`
+* Windows: [binary releases are available](https://github.com/WebAssembly/binaryen/releases)
+  
+After you've installed the package execute `cargo install --force cargo-contract`.
 
 ## Usage
 
diff --git a/src/cmd/build.rs b/src/cmd/build.rs
index 5ae8c8dc85ead8a8479886dd5540012b4a2c32c3..a0a19a76172331e10cfb89968ac0393111970f77 100644
--- a/src/cmd/build.rs
+++ b/src/cmd/build.rs
@@ -14,18 +14,6 @@
 // You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 // along with cargo-contract.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-use regex::Regex;
-use std::{convert::TryFrom, ffi::OsStr, fs::metadata, path::PathBuf};
-
-#[cfg(feature = "binaryen-as-dependency")]
-use std::{
-    fs::File,
-    io::{Read, Write},
-};
-
-#[cfg(any(test, not(feature = "binaryen-as-dependency")))]
-use std::{path::Path, process::Command, str};
-
 use crate::{
     crate_metadata::CrateMetadata,
     maybe_println, util, validate_wasm,
@@ -36,6 +24,15 @@ use crate::{
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use colored::Colorize;
 use parity_wasm::elements::{External, MemoryType, Module, Section};
+use regex::Regex;
+use std::{
+    convert::TryFrom,
+    ffi::OsStr,
+    fs::metadata,
+    path::{Path, PathBuf},
+    process::Command,
+    str,
+};
 use structopt::StructOpt;
 
 /// This is the maximum number of pages available for a contract to allocate.
@@ -337,54 +334,6 @@ fn optimize_wasm(
     })
 }
 
-/// Optimizes the Wasm supplied as `wasm` using the `binaryen-rs` dependency.
-///
-/// The supplied `optimization_level` denotes the number of optimization passes,
-/// resulting in potentially a lot of time spent optimizing.
-///
-/// If successful, the optimized wasm is written to `dest_optimized`.
-#[cfg(feature = "binaryen-as-dependency")]
-fn do_optimization(
-    dest_wasm: &OsStr,
-    dest_optimized: &OsStr,
-    optimization_level: OptimizationPasses,
-) -> Result<()> {
-    let mut dest_wasm_file = File::open(dest_wasm)?;
-    let mut dest_wasm_file_content = Vec::new();
-    dest_wasm_file.read_to_end(&mut dest_wasm_file_content)?;
-
-    let codegen_config = binaryen::CodegenConfig {
-        // Number of optimization passes (spends potentially a lot of time optimizing)
-        optimization_level: optimization_level.to_passes(),
-        // The default
-        shrink_level: optimization_level.to_shrink(),
-        // The default
-        debug_info: false,
-    };
-    log::info!(
-        "Optimization level passed to `binaryen` dependency: {}",
-        codegen_config.optimization_level
-    );
-    log::info!(
-        "Shrink level passed to `binaryen` dependency: {}",
-        codegen_config.shrink_level
-    );
-    let mut module = binaryen::Module::read(&dest_wasm_file_content)
-        .map_err(|_| anyhow::anyhow!("binaryen failed to read file content"))?;
-
-    if optimization_level != OptimizationPasses::Zero {
-        // binaryen-rs still uses the default optimization passes, even if zero
-        // is passed. this is the ticket for it: https://github.com/pepyakin/binaryen-rs/issues/56.
-        // we can remove the if condition here once the issue is fixed.
-        module.optimize(&codegen_config);
-    }
-
-    let mut optimized_wasm_file = File::create(dest_optimized)?;
-    optimized_wasm_file.write_all(&module.write())?;
-
-    Ok(())
-}
-
 /// Optimizes the Wasm supplied as `crate_metadata.dest_wasm` using
 /// the `wasm-opt` binary.
 ///
@@ -392,7 +341,6 @@ fn do_optimization(
 /// resulting in potentially a lot of time spent optimizing.
 ///
 /// If successful, the optimized wasm is written to `dest_optimized`.
-#[cfg(not(feature = "binaryen-as-dependency"))]
 fn do_optimization(
     dest_wasm: &OsStr,
     dest_optimized: &OsStr,
@@ -463,7 +411,6 @@ fn do_optimization(
 /// compatible with `cargo-contract`.
 ///
 /// Currently this must be a version >= 99.
-#[cfg(any(test, not(feature = "binaryen-as-dependency")))]
 fn check_wasm_opt_version_compatibility(wasm_opt_path: &Path) -> Result<()> {
     let cmd = Command::new(wasm_opt_path)
         .arg("--version")
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 3ce2b55d6b7d9ca02ffa007dcd6046b2863afb69..321a4ebceca232b07015a6fbce79c67fcd3d376b 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -159,32 +159,6 @@ impl From<std::string::String> for OptimizationPasses {
     }
 }
 
-impl OptimizationPasses {
-    /// Returns the number of optimization passes to do
-    #[cfg(feature = "binaryen-as-dependency")]
-    pub(crate) fn to_passes(&self) -> u32 {
-        match self {
-            OptimizationPasses::Zero => 0,
-            OptimizationPasses::One => 1,
-            OptimizationPasses::Two => 2,
-            OptimizationPasses::Three => 3,
-            OptimizationPasses::Four => 4,
-            _ => 3, // Default to three for shrink settings
-        }
-    }
-
-    /// Returns amount of shrinkage to do
-    #[cfg(feature = "binaryen-as-dependency")]
-    pub(crate) fn to_shrink(&self) -> u32 {
-        match self {
-            OptimizationPasses::Zero => 0,
-            OptimizationPasses::S => 1,
-            OptimizationPasses::Z => 2,
-            _ => 1,
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 #[derive(Default, Clone, Debug, StructOpt)]
 pub struct VerbosityFlags {
     /// No output printed to stdout