diff --git a/examples/speculative/speculative.cpp b/examples/speculative/speculative.cpp
index 57893c2eb..124133a35 100644
--- a/examples/speculative/speculative.cpp
+++ b/examples/speculative/speculative.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
+#include <set>
 
 #define SPEC_VOCAB_MAX_SIZE_DIFFERENCE  100
 #define SPEC_VOCAB_CHECK_START_TOKEN_ID 5
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
     }
     std::default_random_engine rng(params.seed);
     std::uniform_real_distribution<> u_dist;
+    std::uniform_int_distribution<> u_int_dist;
 
 #ifndef LOG_DISABLE_LOGS
     log_set_target(log_filename_generator("speculative", "log"));
@@ -188,12 +190,15 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
     drafts[0].i_batch_tgt[0] = 0;
 
     while (true) {
+        std::set<int> active_seqs = {};
+
         // print current draft sequences
         for (int s = 0; s < n_seq_dft; ++s) {
             if (!drafts[s].active) {
                 continue;
             }
 
+            active_seqs.insert(s);
             const auto & tokens = drafts[s].tokens;
 
             LOG("draft %d: %s\n", s, LOG_TOKENS_TOSTR_PRETTY(ctx_dft, tokens).c_str());
@@ -219,12 +224,13 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
                     float p_tgt = 0, p_dft = 0;
 
                     // GGML_ASSERT(dist_tgt.size() == dist_dft.size());
-                    for (int s = 0; s < n_seq_dft; ++s) {
-                        if (!drafts[s].active) {
-                            continue;
-                        }
+
+                    while (active_seqs.size() > 0) {
+                        // randomly select a sequence to verify from active sequences
+                        int s = *std::next(active_seqs.begin(), u_int_dist(rng) % active_seqs.size());
                         if (i_dft >= (int) drafts[s].tokens.size()) {
                             drafts[s].active = false;
+                            active_seqs.erase(s);
                             continue;
                         }
                         if (accept) {
@@ -232,9 +238,10 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
                             if (drafts[s].tokens[i_dft] != drafts[s_keep].tokens[i_dft]) {
                                 drafts[s].active = false;
                             }
+                            active_seqs.erase(s);
                             continue;
                         }
-
+                        LOG("verifying sequence #%d at pos #%d from %d active sequence(s)\n", s, i_dft, (int) active_seqs.size());
                         float r = u_dist(rng);
                         llama_token_data_array dist_dft = drafts[s].dist[i_dft];
                         // acquire the token probabilities assigned by the draft and target models
@@ -290,13 +297,19 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
                             });
                         }
 
-                        for(int i = s; i < n_seq_dft; i++) {
+                        active_seqs.erase(s);
+                        for(int i = 0; i < n_seq_dft; i++) {
+                            if (i == s) {
+                                continue;
+                            }
                             if (drafts[i].tokens[i_dft] == drafts[s].tokens[i_dft]) {
                                 // synchronize active status for sequences with the same drafted token
                                 drafts[i].active = drafts[i].active && accept;
+                                if (!drafts[i].active) {
+                                    active_seqs.erase(s);
+                                }
                             }
                         }
-
                     }
 
                     if (!accept) {
@@ -380,16 +393,22 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
                 llama_kv_cache_seq_keep(ctx_tgt, 0);
             }
 
+            std::set<llama_token_data *> freed_addrs;
             for (int s = 0; s < n_seq_dft; ++s) {
                 drafts[s].active = false;
                 drafts[s].tokens.clear();
                 drafts[s].i_batch_tgt.clear();
                 // free dist and clear
                 for (int i = 0; i < drafts[s].dist.size(); i++) {
+                    if (freed_addrs.find(drafts[s].dist[i].data) != freed_addrs.end()) {
+                        continue;
+                    }
                     free(drafts[s].dist[i].data);
+                    freed_addrs.insert(drafts[s].dist[i].data);
                 }
                 drafts[s].dist.clear();
             }
+            freed_addrs.clear();
             // note: will be erased after the speculation phase
             drafts[0].tokens.push_back(token_id);
             drafts[0].dist.push_back(llama_token_data_array{});