diff --git a/depends/Makefile b/depends/Makefile
--- a/depends/Makefile
+++ b/depends/Makefile
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 SDK_PATH ?= $(BASEDIR)/SDKs
 NO_QT ?=
 NO_PROTOBUF ?=
+NO_QR ?=
 RAPIDCHECK ?=
 NO_WALLET ?=
 NO_ZMQ ?=
@@ -98,7 +99,10 @@
 $(host_arch)_$(host_os)_id_string+=$(shell $(host_RANLIB) --version 2>/dev/null)
 $(host_arch)_$(host_os)_id_string+=$(shell $(host_STRIP) --version 2>/dev/null)
 
-qt_packages_$(NO_QT) = $(qt_packages) $(qt_$(host_os)_packages) $(qt_$(host_arch)_$(host_os)_packages)
+qrencode_packages_$(NO_QR) = $(qrencode_packages)
+
+qt_packages_$(NO_QT) = $(qt_packages) $(qt_$(host_os)_packages) $(qt_$(host_arch)_$(host_os)_packages) $(qrencode_packages_)
+
 wallet_packages_$(NO_WALLET) = $(wallet_packages)
 upnp_packages_$(NO_UPNP) = $(upnp_packages)
 zmq_packages_$(NO_ZMQ) = $(zmq_packages)
@@ -157,6 +161,7 @@
             -e 's|@CPPFLAGS@|$(strip $(host_CPPFLAGS) $(host_$(release_type)_CPPFLAGS))|' \
             -e 's|@LDFLAGS@|$(strip $(host_LDFLAGS) $(host_$(release_type)_LDFLAGS))|' \
             -e 's|@no_qt@|$(NO_QT)|' \
+            -e 's|@no_qr@|$(NO_QR)|' \
             -e 's|@no_zmq@|$(NO_ZMQ)|' \
             -e 's|@no_bip70@|$(NO_PROTOBUF)|' \
             -e 's|@no_wallet@|$(NO_WALLET)|' \
diff --git a/depends/README.md b/depends/README.md
--- a/depends/README.md
+++ b/depends/README.md
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@
     SDK_PATH: Path where sdk's can be found (used by macOS)
     FALLBACK_DOWNLOAD_PATH: If a source file can't be fetched, try here before giving up
     NO_QT: Don't download/build/cache qt and its dependencies
+    NO_QR: Don't download/build/cache packages needed for enabling qrencode
     NO_ZMQ: Don't download/build/cache packages needed for enabling zeromq
     NO_WALLET: Don't download/build/cache libs needed to enable the wallet
     NO_UPNP: Don't download/build/cache packages needed for enabling upnp
diff --git a/depends/config.site.in b/depends/config.site.in
--- a/depends/config.site.in
+++ b/depends/config.site.in
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@
 fi
 
 
+if test -z $with_qrencode && test -n "@no_qr@"; then
+  with_qrencode=no
+fi
+
 if test -z $enable_wallet && test -n "@no_wallet@"; then
   enable_wallet=no
 fi
diff --git a/depends/packages/packages.mk b/depends/packages/packages.mk
--- a/depends/packages/packages.mk
+++ b/depends/packages/packages.mk
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 protobuf_native_packages = native_protobuf
 protobuf_packages = protobuf
 
-qt_packages = qrencode zlib
+qt_packages = zlib
+
+qrencode_packages = qrencode
 
 qt_linux_packages:=qt expat libxcb xcb_proto libXau xproto freetype fontconfig