diff --git a/cmd/tendermint/commands/version.go b/cmd/tendermint/commands/version.go
index d1a7fba58..d33a7c3a3 100644
--- a/cmd/tendermint/commands/version.go
+++ b/cmd/tendermint/commands/version.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package commands
 
 import (
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -13,6 +14,25 @@ var VersionCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:   "version",
 	Short: "Show version info",
 	Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
-		fmt.Println(version.TMCoreSemVer)
+		if verbose {
+			values, _ := json.MarshalIndent(struct {
+				Tendermint    string `json:"tendermint"`
+				ABCI          string `json:"abci"`
+				BlockProtocol uint64 `json:"block_protocol"`
+				P2PProtocol   uint64 `json:"p2p_protocol"`
+			}{
+				Tendermint:    version.TMCoreSemVer,
+				ABCI:          version.ABCIVersion,
+				BlockProtocol: version.BlockProtocol,
+				P2PProtocol:   version.P2PProtocol,
+			}, "", "  ")
+			fmt.Println(string(values))
+		} else {
+			fmt.Println(version.TMCoreSemVer)
+		}
 	},
 }
+
+func init() {
+	VersionCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&verbose, "verbose", "v", false, "Show protocol and library versions")
+}