diff --git a/rs/universal_canister/impl/BUILD.bazel b/rs/universal_canister/impl/BUILD.bazel
index 1aff43d9b11a..abf81b2f8c18 100644
--- a/rs/universal_canister/impl/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/rs/universal_canister/impl/BUILD.bazel
@@ -33,14 +33,29 @@ rust_library(
     deps = LIB_DEPENDENCIES,
 )
 
-rust_canister(
+# rust_canister(
+#     name = "universal_canister",
+#     srcs = glob(["src/*.rs"]),
+#     aliases = ALIASES,
+#     crate_features = ["heartbeat"],
+#     proc_macro_deps = MACRO_DEPENDENCIES,
+#     service_file = ":interface.did",
+#     deps = LIB_DEPENDENCIES + DEPENDENCIES,
+# )
+
+
+genrule(
     name = "universal_canister",
-    srcs = glob(["src/*.rs"]),
-    aliases = ALIASES,
-    crate_features = ["heartbeat"],
-    proc_macro_deps = MACRO_DEPENDENCIES,
-    service_file = ":interface.did",
-    deps = LIB_DEPENDENCIES + DEPENDENCIES,
+    srcs = ["empty.wasm.gz"],
+    outs = ["universal_canister.wasm.gz"],
+    visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
+    testonly = False,
+    message = "Copying universal canister",
+    tools = [],
+    cmd_bash = " && ".join([
+        "cp {empty_wasm} $@",
+    ])
+        .format(empty_wasm = "$(location empty.wasm.gz)"),
 )
 
 rust_canister(