diff --git a/src/pipeline.ts b/src/pipeline.ts
index 81e9b5e..e62bd03 100644
--- a/src/pipeline.ts
+++ b/src/pipeline.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ const debug = Debug('ditto:pipeline');
  * It is idempotent, so it can be called multiple times for the same event.
  */
 async function handleEvent(event: DittoEvent, signal: AbortSignal): Promise<void> {
+  // Integer max value for Postgres. TODO: switch to a bigint in 2038.
+  if (event.created_at >= 2_147_483_647) {
+    throw new RelayError('blocked', 'event too far in the future');
+  }
   if (!(await verifyEventWorker(event))) return;
   if (encounterEvent(event)) return;
   debug(`NostrEvent<${event.kind}> ${event.id}`);
@@ -115,11 +119,6 @@ async function storeEvent(event: DittoEvent, signal?: AbortSignal): Promise<void
   const store = await Storages.db();
   const kysely = await DittoDB.getInstance();
 
-  // Integer max value for Postgres. TODO: switch to a bigint in 2038.
-  if (event.created_at >= 2_147_483_647) {
-    throw new RelayError('blocked', 'event too far in the future');
-  }
-
   await updateStats({ event, store, kysely }).catch(debug);
   await store.event(event, { signal });
 }