diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c98b55beb..d21352c06 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ BUG FIXES:
 - Graceful handling/recovery for apps that have non-determinism or fail to halt
 - Graceful handling/recovery for violations of safety, or liveness
 
+## 0.17.0 (TBD)
+
+BREAKING:
+- [genesis] rename `app_options` to `app_state`
+
 ## 0.16.1 (TBD)
 
 IMPROVEMENTS:
diff --git a/Gopkg.lock b/Gopkg.lock
index b032f23c0..70be9a3fa 100644
--- a/Gopkg.lock
+++ b/Gopkg.lock
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@
   revision = "1875d0a70c90e57f11972aefd42276df65e895b9"
 
 [[projects]]
+  branch = "master"
   name = "golang.org/x/net"
   packages = [
     "context",
@@ -302,9 +303,10 @@
     "idna",
     "internal/timeseries",
     "lex/httplex",
+    "netutil",
     "trace"
   ]
-  revision = "2fb46b16b8dda405028c50f7c7f0f9dd1fa6bfb1"
+  revision = "cbe0f9307d0156177f9dd5dc85da1a31abc5f2fb"
 
 [[projects]]
   name = "golang.org/x/sys"
@@ -369,6 +371,6 @@
 [solve-meta]
   analyzer-name = "dep"
   analyzer-version = 1
-  inputs-digest = "402db24a8ce0cac835f1d0d3c40d4066d57660acac43b647066d94913bfc3efc"
+  inputs-digest = "a65ef86e3db67769c1fa4ae1f67af8d5b95474f4b95ec799d8572e19b44b206a"
   solver-name = "gps-cdcl"
   solver-version = 1
diff --git a/Gopkg.toml b/Gopkg.toml
index 875b84a4d..73ab28cbd 100644
--- a/Gopkg.toml
+++ b/Gopkg.toml
@@ -89,6 +89,10 @@
   name = "google.golang.org/grpc"
   version = "1.7.3"
 
+[[constraint]]
+  branch = "master"
+  name = "golang.org/x/net"
+
 [prune]
   go-tests = true
   unused-packages = true
diff --git a/docs/specification/genesis.rst b/docs/specification/genesis.rst
index 7e36c1315..5edd1b7b9 100644
--- a/docs/specification/genesis.rst
+++ b/docs/specification/genesis.rst
@@ -5,12 +5,6 @@ The genesis.json file in ``$TMHOME/config`` defines the initial TendermintCore
 state upon genesis of the blockchain (`see
 definition <https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/blob/master/types/genesis.go>`__).
 
-NOTE: This does not (yet) specify the application state (e.g. initial
-distribution of tokens). Currently we leave it up to the application to
-load the initial application genesis state. In the future, we may
-include genesis SetOption messages that get passed from TendermintCore
-to the app upon genesis.
-
 Fields
 ~~~~~~
 
@@ -26,6 +20,7 @@ Fields
 -  ``app_hash``: The expected application hash (as returned by the
    ``Commit`` ABCI message) upon genesis. If the app's hash does not
    match, a warning message is printed.
+-  ``app_state``: The application state (e.g. initial distribution of tokens).
 
 Sample genesis.json
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -69,5 +64,8 @@ Sample genesis.json
           "name": "mach4"
         }
       ],
-      "app_hash": "15005165891224E721CB664D15CB972240F5703F"
+      "app_hash": "15005165891224E721CB664D15CB972240F5703F",
+      "app_state": {
+        {"account": "Bob", "coins": 5000}
+      }
     }
diff --git a/types/genesis.go b/types/genesis.go
index b7e4f6452..ef2d16791 100644
--- a/types/genesis.go
+++ b/types/genesis.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ type GenesisDoc struct {
 	ConsensusParams *ConsensusParams   `json:"consensus_params,omitempty"`
 	Validators      []GenesisValidator `json:"validators"`
 	AppHash         cmn.HexBytes       `json:"app_hash"`
-	AppOptions      interface{}        `json:"app_options,omitempty"`
+	AppState        json.RawMessage    `json:"app_state,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // SaveAs is a utility method for saving GenensisDoc as a JSON file.
diff --git a/types/genesis_test.go b/types/genesis_test.go
index bdef3b925..aa713289f 100644
--- a/types/genesis_test.go
+++ b/types/genesis_test.go
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestGenesis(t *testing.T) {
-
 	// test some bad ones from raw json
 	testCases := [][]byte{
 		[]byte{},                                             // empty
@@ -30,7 +29,7 @@ func TestGenesis(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	// test a good one by raw json
-	genDocBytes := []byte(`{"genesis_time":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","chain_id":"test-chain-QDKdJr","consensus_params":null,"validators":[{"pub_key":{"type":"ed25519","data":"961EAB8752E51A03618502F55C2B6E09C38C65635C64CCF3173ED452CF86C957"},"power":10,"name":""}],"app_hash":"","app_options":{"account_owner": "Bob"}}`)
+	genDocBytes := []byte(`{"genesis_time":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","chain_id":"test-chain-QDKdJr","consensus_params":null,"validators":[{"pub_key":{"type":"ed25519","data":"961EAB8752E51A03618502F55C2B6E09C38C65635C64CCF3173ED452CF86C957"},"power":10,"name":""}],"app_hash":"","app_state":{"account_owner": "Bob"}}`)
 	_, err := GenesisDocFromJSON(genDocBytes)
 	assert.NoError(t, err, "expected no error for good genDoc json")