diff --git a/lnbits/db.py b/lnbits/db.py
index c9f28f10f..e71bc0b83 100644
--- a/lnbits/db.py
+++ b/lnbits/db.py
@@ -12,9 +12,8 @@ from typing import Any, Generic, Literal, Optional, TypeVar
 
 from loguru import logger
 from pydantic import BaseModel, ValidationError, root_validator
-from sqlalchemy import create_engine
-from sqlalchemy_aio.base import AsyncConnection
-from sqlalchemy_aio.strategy import ASYNCIO_STRATEGY
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncConnection, AsyncEngine, create_async_engine
+from sqlalchemy.sql import text
 
 from lnbits.settings import settings
 
@@ -133,9 +132,8 @@ class Compat:
 
 
 class Connection(Compat):
-    def __init__(self, conn: AsyncConnection, txn, typ, name, schema):
+    def __init__(self, conn: AsyncConnection, typ, name, schema):
         self.conn = conn
-        self.txn = txn
         self.type = typ
         self.name = name
         self.schema = schema
@@ -168,16 +166,16 @@ class Connection(Compat):
 
     async def fetchall(self, query: str, values: tuple = ()) -> list:
         result = await self.conn.execute(
-            self.rewrite_query(query), self.rewrite_values(values)
+            text(self.rewrite_query(query)), self.rewrite_values(values)
         )
-        return await result.fetchall()
+        return result.fetchall()
 
     async def fetchone(self, query: str, values: tuple = ()):
         result = await self.conn.execute(
-            self.rewrite_query(query), self.rewrite_values(values)
+            text(self.rewrite_query(query)), self.rewrite_values(values)
         )
-        row = await result.fetchone()
-        await result.close()
+        row = result.fetchone()
+        result.close()
         return row
 
     async def fetch_page(
@@ -239,7 +237,7 @@ class Connection(Compat):
 
     async def execute(self, query: str, values: tuple = ()):
         return await self.conn.execute(
-            self.rewrite_query(query), self.rewrite_values(values)
+            text(self.rewrite_query(query)), self.rewrite_values(values)
         )
 
 
@@ -253,7 +251,7 @@ class Database(Compat):
             self.path = os.path.join(
                 settings.lnbits_data_folder, f"{self.name}.sqlite3"
             )
-            database_uri = f"sqlite:///{self.path}"
+            database_uri = f"sqlite+aiosqlite:///{self.path}"
         else:
             database_uri = settings.lnbits_database_url
 
@@ -262,8 +260,8 @@ class Database(Compat):
         else:
             self.schema = None
 
-        self.engine = create_engine(
-            database_uri, strategy=ASYNCIO_STRATEGY, echo=settings.debug_database
+        self.engine: AsyncEngine = create_async_engine(
+            database_uri, echo=settings.debug_database
         )
         self.lock = asyncio.Lock()
 
@@ -273,34 +271,34 @@ class Database(Compat):
     async def connect(self):
         await self.lock.acquire()
         try:
-            async with self.engine.connect() as conn:  # type: ignore
-                async with conn.begin() as txn:
-                    wconn = Connection(conn, txn, self.type, self.name, self.schema)
+            async with self.engine.connect() as conn:
+                if not conn:
+                    raise Exception("Could not connect to the database")
 
-                    if self.schema:
-                        if self.type in {POSTGRES, COCKROACH}:
-                            await wconn.execute(
-                                f"CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS {self.schema}"
-                            )
-                        elif self.type == SQLITE:
-                            await wconn.execute(
-                                f"ATTACH '{self.path}' AS {self.schema}"
-                            )
+                wconn = Connection(conn, self.type, self.name, self.schema)
 
-                    yield wconn
+                if self.schema:
+                    if self.type in {POSTGRES, COCKROACH}:
+                        await wconn.execute(
+                            f"CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS {self.schema}"
+                        )
+                    elif self.type == SQLITE:
+                        await wconn.execute(f"ATTACH '{self.path}' AS {self.schema}")
+
+                yield wconn
         finally:
             self.lock.release()
 
     async def fetchall(self, query: str, values: tuple = ()) -> list:
         async with self.connect() as conn:
             result = await conn.execute(query, values)
-            return await result.fetchall()
+            return result.fetchall()
 
     async def fetchone(self, query: str, values: tuple = ()):
         async with self.connect() as conn:
             result = await conn.execute(query, values)
-            row = await result.fetchone()
-            await result.close()
+            row = result.fetchone()
+            result.close()
             return row
 
     async def fetch_page(
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 9e8ccfca2..12117d39b 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -1,5 +1,23 @@
 # This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 1.8.3 and should not be changed by hand.
 
+[[package]]
+name = "aiosqlite"
+version = "0.20.0"
+description = "asyncio bridge to the standard sqlite3 module"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.8"
+files = [
+    {file = "aiosqlite-0.20.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:36a1deaca0cac40ebe32aac9977a6e2bbc7f5189f23f4a54d5908986729e5bd6"},
+    {file = "aiosqlite-0.20.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:6d35c8c256637f4672f843c31021464090805bf925385ac39473fb16eaaca3d7"},
+]
+
+[package.dependencies]
+typing_extensions = ">=4.0"
+
+[package.extras]
+dev = ["attribution (==1.7.0)", "black (==24.2.0)", "coverage[toml] (==7.4.1)", "flake8 (==7.0.0)", "flake8-bugbear (==24.2.6)", "flit (==3.9.0)", "mypy (==1.8.0)", "ufmt (==2.3.0)", "usort (==1.0.8.post1)"]
+docs = ["sphinx (==7.2.6)", "sphinx-mdinclude (==0.5.3)"]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "anyio"
 version = "4.4.0"
@@ -3165,4 +3183,4 @@ liquid = ["wallycore"]
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = "^3.10 | ^3.9"
-content-hash = "b0aef5d221aed5b287da4e97da2da1053750f8cb1d8be01d3f5cc25f61a78cf9"
+content-hash = "56cbae093e02e5165df2c73d62b054e71f9d431fb704726b625473720496d473"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index dd52f0f5c..72e52871d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ wallycore = {version = "1.3.0", optional = true}
 # needed for breez funding source
 breez-sdk = {version = "0.5.2", optional = true}
 
+aiosqlite = "^0.20.0"
 [tool.poetry.extras]
 breez = ["breez-sdk"]
 liquid = ["wallycore"]