diff --git a/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/DHTProtocol.hs b/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/DHTProtocol.hs
index b5fc77c..3defeac 100644
--- a/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/DHTProtocol.hs
+++ b/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/DHTProtocol.hs
@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@ import Network.Socket.ByteString
 import Hash2Pub.FediChord
   ( NodeID
   , NodeState (..)
-  , getNodeCache
-  , putNodeCache
   , getSuccessors
   , putSuccessors
   , getPredecessors
@@ -168,8 +166,16 @@ remoteNode_ (RemoteCacheEntry ns _) = ns
 addCacheEntry :: RemoteCacheEntry   -- ^ a remote cache entry received from network
               -> NodeCache          -- ^ node cache to insert to
               -> IO NodeCache       -- ^ new node cache with the element inserted
-addCacheEntry (RemoteCacheEntry ns ts) cache = do
+addCacheEntry entry cache = do
     now <- getPOSIXTime
+    return $ addCacheEntryPure now entry cache
+
+-- | pure version of 'addCacheEntry' with current time explicitly specified as argument
+addCacheEntryPure :: POSIXTime      -- ^ current time
+              -> RemoteCacheEntry   -- ^ a remote cache entry received from network
+              -> NodeCache          -- ^ node cache to insert to
+              -> NodeCache       -- ^ new node cache with the element inserted
+addCacheEntryPure now (RemoteCacheEntry ns ts) cache =
     let
         -- TODO: limit diffSeconds to some maximum value to prevent malicious nodes from inserting entries valid nearly until eternity
         timestamp' = if ts <= now then ts else now
@@ -178,7 +184,8 @@ addCacheEntry (RemoteCacheEntry ns ts) cache = do
             case oldVal of
               ProxyEntry n _ -> ProxyEntry n (Just newVal)
               NodeEntry oldValidationState _ oldTimestamp  -> NodeEntry oldValidationState newNode (max oldTimestamp newTimestamp)
-    return newCache
+    in
+      newCache
 
 -- | delete the node with given ID from cache
 deleteCacheEntry :: NodeID      -- ^ID of the node to be deleted
diff --git a/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/FediChord.hs b/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/FediChord.hs
index 87c9d5d..70d7fc0 100644
--- a/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/FediChord.hs
+++ b/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/FediChord.hs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ module Hash2Pub.FediChord (
   , toNodeID
   , NodeState (..)
   , InternalNodeState (..)
-  , getNodeCache
+  , getNodeCacheRef
   , putNodeCache
   , getSuccessors
   , putSuccessors
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ module Hash2Pub.FediChord (
   , fediChordInit
   , mkServerSocket
   , resolve
+  , cacheWriter
                            ) where
 
 import qualified Data.Map.Strict as Map
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ import Data.IP (IPv6, fromHostAddress6, toHostAddress6)
 import Data.IORef
 import Control.Concurrent.STM
 import Control.Concurrent.STM.TQueue
+import Control.Monad (forever)
 import Data.Typeable (Typeable(..), typeOf)
 
 import Hash2Pub.Utils
@@ -142,11 +144,12 @@ data InternalNodeState = InternalNodeState {
   -- ^ EpiChord node cache with expiry times for nodes
   -- as the map is ordered, lookups for the closes preceding node can be done using @lookupLT@.
   -- encapsulated into an IORef for allowing concurrent reads without locking
-  , cacheWriteQueue :: TQueue (NodeCache -> IO NodeCache)
+  , cacheWriteQueue :: TQueue (NodeCache -> NodeCache)
   -- ^ cache updates are not written directly to the  'nodeCache' but queued and
   -- only processed by a single writer thread to prevent lost updates.
   -- All nodeCache modifying functions have to be partially applied enough before
   -- being put into the queue.
+  --
   , successors :: [NodeID] -- could be a set instead as these are ordered as well
   -- ^ successor nodes in ascending order by distance
   , predecessors :: [NodeID]
@@ -187,8 +190,8 @@ putInternals_ func ns = let
         ns {internals = newInternals }
 
 -- | convenience function for extracting the 'NodeCache' from a 'NodeState'
-getNodeCache :: NodeState -> Maybe (IORef NodeCache)
-getNodeCache = getInternals_ nodeCache
+getNodeCacheRef :: NodeState -> Maybe (IORef NodeCache)
+getNodeCacheRef = getInternals_ nodeCache
 
 -- | convenience function for updating the 'NodeCache' on 'NodeState' s that have
 -- internals.
@@ -196,6 +199,9 @@ getNodeCache = getInternals_ nodeCache
 putNodeCache :: IORef NodeCache -> NodeState -> NodeState
 putNodeCache nc = putInternals_ (\i -> i {nodeCache = nc})
 
+getCacheWriteQueue :: NodeState -> Maybe (TQueue (NodeCache -> NodeCache))
+getCacheWriteQueue = getInternals_ cacheWriteQueue
+
 -- | convenience function for extracting the @successors@ from a 'NodeState'
 getSuccessors :: NodeState -> Maybe [NodeID]
 getSuccessors = getInternals_ successors
@@ -426,7 +432,7 @@ data FediChordConf = FediChordConf {
 fediChordInit :: FediChordConf -> IO (Socket, NodeState)
 fediChordInit conf = do
     cacheRef <- newIORef initCache
-    cacheWriterQueue <- atomically newTQueue
+    q <- atomically newTQueue
     let
         initialState = NodeState {
             domain = confDomain conf
@@ -439,7 +445,7 @@ fediChordInit conf = do
                                             }
         internalsInit = InternalNodeState {
            nodeCache = cacheRef
-          , cacheWriteQueue = cacheWriterQueue
+          , cacheWriteQueue = q
           , successors = []
           , predecessors = []
           , kNeighbours = 3
@@ -463,6 +469,20 @@ fediChordInit conf = do
 --    -- ToDo: implement cache management, as already all received replies should be stored in cache
 --
 
+cacheWriter :: NodeState -> IO ()
+cacheWriter ns = do
+    let writeQueue' = getCacheWriteQueue ns
+    case writeQueue' of
+      Nothing -> return ()
+      Just writeQueue -> forever $ do
+        f <- atomically $ readTQueue writeQueue
+        let
+            refModifier :: NodeCache -> (NodeCache, ())
+            refModifier nc = (f nc, ())
+        maybe (return ()) (
+            \ref -> atomicModifyIORef' ref refModifier
+                 ) $ getNodeCacheRef ns
+
 -- ====== network socket operations ======
 
 -- | resolve a specified host and return the 'AddrInfo' for it.
diff --git a/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/Main.hs b/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/Main.hs
index 7b55230..9c212b2 100644
--- a/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/Main.hs
+++ b/Hash2Pub/src/Hash2Pub/Main.hs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ module Main where
 
 import System.Environment
 import Data.IP (IPv6, toHostAddress6) -- iproute, just for IPv6 string parsing
+import Control.Concurrent
 
 import Hash2Pub.FediChord
 
@@ -14,7 +15,11 @@ main = do
     (serverSock, thisNode) <- fediChordInit conf
     print thisNode
     print serverSock
+    -- currently no masking is necessary, as there is nothing to clean up
+    cacheWriterThread <- forkIO $ cacheWriter thisNode
     -- idea: list of bootstrapping nodes, try joining within a timeout
+    -- stop main thread from terminating during development
+    getChar
     return ()
 
 readConfig :: IO FediChordConf