diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index be14282b7..dc74c5626 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.5.3
+0.5.3a
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6b4320f0c..9b38f790b 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ setup(
     ],
     dependency_links=[
         "https://github.com/matrix-org/syutil/tarball/v0.0.2#egg=syutil-0.0.2",
-        "https://github.com/pyca/pynacl/tarball/52dbe2dc33f1#egg=pynacl-0.3.0",
+        "https://github.com/pyca/pynacl/tarball/d4d3175589b892f6ea7c22f466e0e223853516fa#egg=pynacl-0.3.0",
         "https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-angular-sdk/tarball/v0.5.1/#egg=matrix_angular_sdk-0.5.1",
     ],
     setup_requires=[
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index c99cd9653..658574dab 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@
 """ This is a reference implementation of a synapse home server.
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.5.3"
+__version__ = "0.5.3a"