diff --git a/runtime/vm/custom_isolate_test.cc b/runtime/vm/custom_isolate_test.cc
index 21fbaec95f8..278039a604d 100644
--- a/runtime/vm/custom_isolate_test.cc
+++ b/runtime/vm/custom_isolate_test.cc
@@ -306,7 +306,6 @@ static void CustomIsolateImpl_start(Dart_NativeArguments args) {
 VM_UNIT_TEST_CASE(CustomIsolates) {
   bool saved_flag = FLAG_trace_shutdown;
   FLAG_trace_shutdown = true;
-  FLAG_verify_handles = true;
   event_queue = new EventQueue();
 
   Dart_Isolate dart_isolate = TestCase::CreateTestIsolate();
diff --git a/runtime/vm/dart_api_impl.cc b/runtime/vm/dart_api_impl.cc
index 42021bd0fbe..1f0baa6a676 100644
--- a/runtime/vm/dart_api_impl.cc
+++ b/runtime/vm/dart_api_impl.cc
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ namespace dart {
 #define Z (T->zone())
 
 DECLARE_FLAG(bool, print_class_table);
-DECLARE_FLAG(bool, verify_handles);
 #if defined(DEBUG) && !defined(DART_PRECOMPILED_RUNTIME)
 DEFINE_FLAG(bool,
             check_function_fingerprints,
@@ -372,10 +371,6 @@ ObjectPtr Api::UnwrapHandle(Dart_Handle object) {
   ASSERT(thread->execution_state() == Thread::kThreadInVM);
   ASSERT(thread->IsMutatorThread());
   ASSERT(thread->isolate() != NULL);
-  ASSERT(!FLAG_verify_handles || thread->IsValidLocalHandle(object) ||
-         thread->isolate()->group()->api_state()->IsActivePersistentHandle(
-             reinterpret_cast<Dart_PersistentHandle>(object)) ||
-         Dart::IsReadOnlyApiHandle(object));
   ASSERT(FinalizablePersistentHandle::ptr_offset() == 0 &&
          PersistentHandle::ptr_offset() == 0 && LocalHandle::ptr_offset() == 0);
 #endif
diff --git a/runtime/vm/handles.cc b/runtime/vm/handles.cc
index b088957cf16..8b44b788c73 100644
--- a/runtime/vm/handles.cc
+++ b/runtime/vm/handles.cc
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@
 
 namespace dart {
 
-DEFINE_FLAG(bool, verify_handles, false, "Verify handles.");
-
 void VMHandles::VisitObjectPointers(ObjectPointerVisitor* visitor) {
   return Handles<kVMHandleSizeInWords, kVMHandlesPerChunk,
                  kOffsetOfRawPtr>::VisitObjectPointers(visitor);
diff --git a/runtime/vm/handles.h b/runtime/vm/handles.h
index f2f900527ea..d59a1ba22b0 100644
--- a/runtime/vm/handles.h
+++ b/runtime/vm/handles.h
@@ -50,8 +50,6 @@ namespace dart {
 class ObjectPointerVisitor;
 class HandleVisitor;
 
-DECLARE_FLAG(bool, verify_handles);
-
 template <int kHandleSizeInWords, int kHandlesPerChunk, int kOffsetOfRawPtr>
 class Handles {
  public:
diff --git a/runtime/vm/heap/verifier.cc b/runtime/vm/heap/verifier.cc
index 71ea299b6d2..1a726dd99dd 100644
--- a/runtime/vm/heap/verifier.cc
+++ b/runtime/vm/heap/verifier.cc
@@ -107,16 +107,6 @@ VerifyCanonicalVisitor::VerifyCanonicalVisitor(Thread* thread)
     : thread_(thread), instanceHandle_(Instance::Handle(thread->zone())) {}
 
 void VerifyCanonicalVisitor::VisitObject(ObjectPtr obj) {
-  // The caller of this function is walking heap pages using the
-  // ExclusivePageIterator - which holds the pages lock.
-  //
-  // If we allow handle verification, then any assignment to a handle will call
-  // `heap()->Contains()` for heap objects, which in return is implemented by
-  // walking pages using ExclusivePageIterator, which can cause a deadlock.
-  //
-  // Therefore we disable the handle verification here.
-  const bool old_verify_flag = FLAG_verify_handles;
-  FLAG_verify_handles = false;
   if (!IsInternalOnlyClassId(obj->GetClassId()) &&
       (obj->GetClassId() != kTypeArgumentsCid)) {
     if (obj->untag()->IsCanonical()) {
@@ -129,7 +119,6 @@ void VerifyCanonicalVisitor::VisitObject(ObjectPtr obj) {
       ASSERT(is_canonical);
     }
   }
-  FLAG_verify_handles = old_verify_flag;
 }
 #endif  // defined(DEBUG)
 
diff --git a/runtime/vm/object.cc b/runtime/vm/object.cc
index b2b35a6eff0..093014b2cb3 100644
--- a/runtime/vm/object.cc
+++ b/runtime/vm/object.cc
@@ -2510,15 +2510,6 @@ ErrorPtr Object::Init(IsolateGroup* isolate_group,
 
 #if defined(DEBUG)
 bool Object::InVMIsolateHeap() const {
-  if (FLAG_verify_handles && ptr()->untag()->InVMIsolateHeap()) {
-    Heap* vm_isolate_heap = Dart::vm_isolate_group()->heap();
-    uword addr = UntaggedObject::ToAddr(ptr());
-    if (!vm_isolate_heap->Contains(addr)) {
-      ASSERT(FLAG_write_protect_code);
-      addr = UntaggedObject::ToAddr(OldPage::ToWritable(ptr()));
-      ASSERT(vm_isolate_heap->Contains(addr));
-    }
-  }
   return ptr()->untag()->InVMIsolateHeap();
 }
 #endif  // DEBUG
@@ -2610,19 +2601,6 @@ void Object::CheckHandle() const {
       cid = kInstanceCid;
     }
     ASSERT(vtable() == builtin_vtables_[cid]);
-    if (FLAG_verify_handles && ptr_->IsHeapObject()) {
-      Heap* isolate_heap = IsolateGroup::Current()->heap();
-      if (!isolate_heap->new_space()->scavenging()) {
-        Heap* vm_isolate_heap = Dart::vm_isolate_group()->heap();
-        uword addr = UntaggedObject::ToAddr(ptr_);
-        if (!isolate_heap->Contains(addr) && !vm_isolate_heap->Contains(addr)) {
-          ASSERT(FLAG_write_protect_code);
-          addr = UntaggedObject::ToAddr(OldPage::ToWritable(ptr_));
-          ASSERT(isolate_heap->Contains(addr) ||
-                 vm_isolate_heap->Contains(addr));
-        }
-      }
-    }
   }
 #endif
 }
diff --git a/runtime/vm/object.h b/runtime/vm/object.h
index 99c91df06b8..b830f12f97f 100644
--- a/runtime/vm/object.h
+++ b/runtime/vm/object.h
@@ -12134,22 +12134,6 @@ void Object::SetPtr(ObjectPtr value, intptr_t default_cid) {
     cid = kInstanceCid;
   }
   set_vtable(builtin_vtables_[cid]);
-#if defined(DEBUG)
-  if (FLAG_verify_handles && ptr_->IsHeapObject() && (ptr_ != Object::null())) {
-    Heap* isolate_heap = IsolateGroup::Current()->heap();
-    // TODO(rmacnak): Remove after rewriting StackFrame::VisitObjectPointers
-    // to not use handles.
-    if (!isolate_heap->new_space()->scavenging()) {
-      Heap* vm_isolate_heap = Dart::vm_isolate_group()->heap();
-      uword addr = UntaggedObject::ToAddr(ptr_);
-      if (!isolate_heap->Contains(addr) && !vm_isolate_heap->Contains(addr)) {
-        ASSERT(FLAG_write_protect_code);
-        addr = UntaggedObject::ToAddr(OldPage::ToWritable(ptr_));
-        ASSERT(isolate_heap->Contains(addr) || vm_isolate_heap->Contains(addr));
-      }
-    }
-  }
-#endif
 }
 
 intptr_t Field::HostOffset() const {