diff --git a/cmd/erasure-utils.go b/cmd/erasure-utils.go
index 498997eba..5897d5e02 100644
--- a/cmd/erasure-utils.go
+++ b/cmd/erasure-utils.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/klauspost/reedsolomon"
+	"github.com/minio/sha256-simd"
 	"golang.org/x/crypto/blake2b"
 )
 
@@ -37,23 +38,26 @@ func newHashWriters(diskCount int, algo string) []hash.Hash {
 }
 
 // newHash - gives you a newly allocated hash depending on the input algorithm.
-func newHash(algo string) hash.Hash {
+func newHash(algo string) (h hash.Hash) {
 	switch algo {
+	case "sha256":
+		// sha256 checksum specially on ARM64 platforms or whenever
+		// requested as dictated by `xl.json` entry.
+		h = sha256.New()
 	case "blake2b":
 		// ignore the error, because New512 without a key never fails
 		// New512 only returns a non-nil error, if the length of the passed
 		// key > 64 bytes - but we use blake2b as hash fucntion (no key)
-		h, _ := blake2b.New512(nil)
-		return h
+		h, _ = blake2b.New512(nil)
 	// Add new hashes here.
 	default:
 		// Default to blake2b.
 		// ignore the error, because New512 without a key never fails
 		// New512 only returns a non-nil error, if the length of the passed
 		// key > 64 bytes - but we use blake2b as hash fucntion (no key)
-		h, _ := blake2b.New512(nil)
-		return h
+		h, _ = blake2b.New512(nil)
 	}
+	return h
 }
 
 // Hash buffer pool is a pool of reusable
diff --git a/cmd/xl-v1-metadata.go b/cmd/xl-v1-metadata.go
index 37b21deee..8edd7d2ba 100644
--- a/cmd/xl-v1-metadata.go
+++ b/cmd/xl-v1-metadata.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"path"
+	"runtime"
 	"sort"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -54,9 +55,28 @@ type checkSumInfo struct {
 }
 
 // Constant indicates current bit-rot algo used when creating objects.
-const (
-	bitRotAlgo = "blake2b"
-)
+// Depending on the architecture we are choosing a different checksum.
+var bitRotAlgo = getDefaultBitRotAlgo()
+
+// Get the default bit-rot algo depending on the architecture.
+// Currently this function defaults to "blake2b" as the preferred
+// checksum algorithm on all architectures except ARM64. On ARM64
+// we use sha256 (optimized using sha2 instructions of ARM NEON chip).
+func getDefaultBitRotAlgo() string {
+	switch runtime.GOARCH {
+	case "arm64":
+		// As a special case for ARM64 we use an optimized
+		// version of hash i.e sha256. This is done so that
+		// blake2b is sub-optimal and slower on ARM64.
+		// This would also allows erasure coded writes
+		// on ARM64 servers to be on-par with their
+		// counter-part X86_64 servers.
+		return "sha256"
+	default:
+		// Default for all other architectures we use blake2b.
+		return "blake2b"
+	}
+}
 
 // erasureInfo - carries erasure coding related information, block
 // distribution and checksums.