diff --git a/src/secp256k1/.travis.yml b/src/secp256k1/.travis.yml
--- a/src/secp256k1/.travis.yml
+++ b/src/secp256k1/.travis.yml
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@
     - CMAKE_TARGET=check-secp256k1
     - AUTOTOOLS_EXTRA_FLAGS=
     - CMAKE_EXTRA_FLAGS=
+    - WITH_VALGRIND=yes
+    - RUN_VALGRIND=no
     - HOST=
     - ECDH=no
     - RECOVERY=no
@@ -68,20 +70,20 @@
     - BIGNUM=no
     - BIGNUM=no       ENDOMORPHISM=yes  RECOVERY=yes  EXPERIMENTAL=yes  MULTISET=yes
     - BIGNUM=no       STATICPRECOMPUTATION=no
-    - AUTOTOOLS_TARGET=distcheck       CMAKE_TARGET=install    CTIMETEST=no BENCH=no
+    - AUTOTOOLS_TARGET=distcheck       CMAKE_TARGET=install WITH_VALGRIND=no CTIMETEST=no BENCH=no
     - AUTOTOOLS_EXTRA_FLAGS=CPPFLAGS=-DDETERMINISTIC CMAKE_EXTRA_FLAGS=-DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-DDETERMINISTIC
     - AUTOTOOLS_EXTRA_FLAGS=CFLAGS=-O0               CMAKE_EXTRA_FLAGS=-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug CTIMETEST=no
-    - AUTOTOOLS_TARGET=check-java      CMAKE_TARGET=check-secp256k1-java JNI=yes ECDH=yes EXPERIMENTAL=yes CTIMETEST=no BENCH=no
+    - AUTOTOOLS_TARGET=check-java      CMAKE_TARGET=check-secp256k1-java JNI=yes ECDH=yes EXPERIMENTAL=yes WITH_VALGRIND=no CTIMETEST=no BENCH=no
     - ECMULTGENPRECISION=2
     - ECMULTGENPRECISION=8
-    - VALGRIND=yes
+    - RUN_VALGRIND=yes
       BIGNUM=no ENDOMORPHISM=yes ASM=x86_64 EXPERIMENTAL=yes ECDH=yes RECOVERY=yes OPENSSL_TESTS=no MULTISET=yes
-      AUTOTOOLS_EXTRA_FLAGS=CPPFLAGS=-DVALGRIND AUTOTOOLS_TARGET=
+      AUTOTOOLS_TARGET=
       CMAKE_EXTRA_FLAGS=-DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-DVALGRIND CMAKE_TARGET="secp256k1-tests secp256k1-exhaustive_tests"
     # The same as above but without endomorphism.
-    - VALGRIND=yes
+    - RUN_VALGRIND=yes
       BIGNUM=no                  ASM=x86_64 EXPERIMENTAL=yes ECDH=yes RECOVERY=yes OPENSSL_TESTS=no MULTISET=yes
-      AUTOTOOLS_EXTRA_FLAGS=CPPFLAGS=-DVALGRIND  AUTOTOOLS_TARGET=
+      AUTOTOOLS_TARGET=
       CMAKE_EXTRA_FLAGS=-DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-DVALGRIND CMAKE_TARGET="secp256k1-tests secp256k1-exhaustive_tests"
     - SCHNORR=no
 jobs:
@@ -111,6 +113,7 @@
             - libgmp-dev
             - libtool-bin
             - ninja-build
+            - valgrind
 
 before_script:
   # This limits the iterations in the benchmarks below to ITER iterations.
diff --git a/src/secp256k1/travis/build_autotools.sh b/src/secp256k1/travis/build_autotools.sh
--- a/src/secp256k1/travis/build_autotools.sh
+++ b/src/secp256k1/travis/build_autotools.sh
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
   --enable-module-schnorr=$SCHNORR \
   --enable-jni=$JNI \
   --enable-openssl-tests=$OPENSSL_TESTS \
+  --with-valgrind=$WITH_VALGRIND \
   $AUTOTOOLS_EXTRA_FLAGS \
   $USE_HOST
 
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@
 
 make -j2 $AUTOTOOLS_TARGET
 
-if [ "$VALGRIND" = "yes" ]; then
+if [ "$RUN_VALGRIND" = "yes" ]; then
   # the `--error-exitcode` is required to make the test fail if valgrind found
   # errors, otherwise it'll return 0
   # (http://valgrind.org/docs/manual/manual-core.html)
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@
 fi
 
 if [ "$BENCH" = "yes" ]; then
-  if [ "$VALGRIND" = "yes" ]; then
+  if [ "$RUN_VALGRIND" = "yes" ]; then
     # Using the local `libtool` because on macOS the system's libtool has
     # nothing to do with GNU libtool
     EXEC='./libtool --mode=execute valgrind --error-exitcode=42';
diff --git a/src/secp256k1/travis/build_cmake.sh b/src/secp256k1/travis/build_cmake.sh
--- a/src/secp256k1/travis/build_cmake.sh
+++ b/src/secp256k1/travis/build_cmake.sh
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 
 ninja $CMAKE_TARGET
 
-if [ "$VALGRIND" = "yes" ]; then
+if [ "$RUN_VALGRIND" = "yes" ]; then
   # the `--error-exitcode` is required to make the test fail if valgrind found
   # errors, otherwise it'll return 0
   # (http://valgrind.org/docs/manual/manual-core.html)