diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d82c3d147f..07eb07d19f 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
     "browser-request": "^0.3.3",
     "gfm.css": "^1.1.2",
     "highlight.js": "^9.13.1",
-    "matrix-js-sdk": "github:matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk#develop",
+    "matrix-js-sdk": "8.1.0-rc.1",
     "matrix-react-sdk": "github:matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk#develop",
     "olm": "https://packages.matrix.org/npm/olm/olm-3.1.4.tgz",
     "prop-types": "^15.7.2",
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 1879a8f9c5..89ce1b5f9f 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -7312,6 +7312,21 @@ mathml-tag-names@^2.1.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/mathml-tag-names/-/mathml-tag-names-2.1.3.tgz#4ddadd67308e780cf16a47685878ee27b736a0a3"
   integrity sha512-APMBEanjybaPzUrfqU0IMU5I0AswKMH7k8OTLs0vvV4KZpExkTkY87nR/zpbuTPj+gARop7aGUbl11pnDfW6xg==
 
+matrix-js-sdk@8.1.0-rc.1:
+  version "8.1.0-rc.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/matrix-js-sdk/-/matrix-js-sdk-8.1.0-rc.1.tgz#e42ca8dae7f513f956457eeb46f03c445a3712e8"
+  integrity sha512-/qOSe0FQsbC2ITXhUbpjCIRAT78f2VHxKGqGMC2M2s5e2Mvpxcpu7lj/ONz5irUPd34Sqhj9KdIUnAqBbh3stQ==
+  dependencies:
+    "@babel/runtime" "^7.8.3"
+    another-json "^0.2.0"
+    browser-request "^0.3.3"
+    bs58 "^4.0.1"
+    content-type "^1.0.2"
+    loglevel "^1.6.4"
+    qs "^6.5.2"
+    request "^2.88.0"
+    unhomoglyph "^1.0.2"
+
 "matrix-js-sdk@github:matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk#develop":
   version "8.0.1"
   resolved "https://codeload.github.com/matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk/tar.gz/a6fe4cdf1cbf56baeb538f071c27326fe98630d0"