diff --git a/evm_trace/vmtrace.py b/evm_trace/vmtrace.py
index 733f743..080c69d 100644
--- a/evm_trace/vmtrace.py
+++ b/evm_trace/vmtrace.py
@@ -6,12 +6,8 @@
 from eth.vm.stack import Stack  # type: ignore
 from eth_utils import to_checksum_address
 from hexbytes import HexBytes
-
-try:
-    from msgspec import Struct  # type: ignore
-    from msgspec.json import Decoder  # type: ignore
-except ImportError as e:
-    raise ImportError("msgspec not found. install it with `pip install msgspec`") from e
+from msgspec import Struct  # type: ignore
+from msgspec.json import Decoder  # type: ignore
 
 # opcodes grouped by the number of items they pop from the stack
 # fmt: off
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 1846ea8..2d4e459 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
         "hexbytes>=0.3.0,<1.0.0",
         "eth-utils>=2.0.0",
         "ethpm-types>=0.3.7,<0.4.0",
+        "msgspec>=0.8.0",
     ],
     python_requires=">=3.8,<4",
     extras_require=extras_require,