diff --git a/corepkgs/unpack-channel.nix b/corepkgs/unpack-channel.nix
index a654db40e..d39a20637 100644
--- a/corepkgs/unpack-channel.nix
+++ b/corepkgs/unpack-channel.nix
@@ -18,21 +18,17 @@ let
       if [ * != $channelName ]; then
         mv * $out/$channelName
       fi
-      if [ -n "$binaryCacheURL" ]; then
-        mkdir $out/binary-caches
-        echo -n "$binaryCacheURL" > $out/binary-caches/$channelName
-      fi
     '';
 
 in
 
-{ name, channelName, src, binaryCacheURL ? "" }:
+{ name, channelName, src }:
 
 derivation {
   system = builtins.currentSystem;
   builder = shell;
   args = [ "-e" builder ];
-  inherit name channelName src binaryCacheURL;
+  inherit name channelName src;
 
   PATH = "${nixBinDir}:${coreutils}";
 
diff --git a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml
index ff4021a76..5a2866e6b 100644
--- a/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/command-ref/nix-channel.xml
@@ -31,12 +31,11 @@
 
 <refsection><title>Description</title>
 
-<para>A Nix channel is a mechanism that allows you to automatically stay
-up-to-date with a set of pre-built Nix expressions.  A Nix channel is
-just a URL that points to a place containing both a set of Nix
-expressions and a pointer to a binary cache.  <phrase
-condition="manual">See also <xref linkend="sec-channels"
-/>.</phrase></para>
+<para>A Nix channel is a mechanism that allows you to automatically
+stay up-to-date with a set of pre-built Nix expressions.  A Nix
+channel is just a URL that points to a place containing a set of Nix
+expressions.  <phrase condition="manual">See also <xref
+linkend="sec-channels" />.</phrase></para>
 
 <para>This command has the following operations:
 
@@ -172,18 +171,6 @@ following files:</para>
 
   </varlistentry>
 
-  <varlistentry><term><filename>binary-cache-url</filename></term>
-
-    <listitem><para>A file containing the URL to a binary cache (such
-    as <uri>https://cache.nixos.org</uri>). Nix will automatically
-    check this cache for pre-built binaries, if the user has
-    sufficient rights to add binary caches. For instance, in a
-    multi-user Nix setup, the binary caches provided by the channels
-    of the root user are used automatically, but caches corresponding
-    to the channels of non-root users are ignored.</para></listitem>
-
-  </varlistentry>
-
 </variablelist>
 
 </refsection>
diff --git a/src/libstore/store-api.hh b/src/libstore/store-api.hh
index 7a1b31d0f..599677376 100644
--- a/src/libstore/store-api.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/store-api.hh
@@ -766,8 +766,7 @@ StoreType getStoreType(const std::string & uri = settings.storeUri.get(),
     const std::string & stateDir = settings.nixStateDir);
 
 /* Return the default substituter stores, defined by the
-   ‘substituters’ option and various legacy options like
-   ‘binary-caches’. */
+   ‘substituters’ option and various legacy options. */
 std::list<ref<Store>> getDefaultSubstituters();
 
 
diff --git a/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc b/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
index bd1371dba..06eb3d23b 100755
--- a/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
+++ b/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
@@ -113,15 +113,6 @@ static void update(const StringSet & channelNames)
         }
 
         if (!unpacked) {
-            // The URL doesn't unpack directly, so let's try treating it like a full channel folder with files in it
-            // Check if the channel advertises a binary cache.
-            DownloadRequest request(url + "/binary-cache-url");
-            try {
-                auto dlRes = dl->download(request);
-                extraAttrs = "binaryCacheURL = \"" + *dlRes.data + "\";";
-            } catch (DownloadError & e) {
-            }
-
             // Download the channel tarball.
             try {
                 filename = dl->downloadCached(store, CachedDownloadRequest(url + "/nixexprs.tar.xz")).path;