diff --git a/core/blockchain.go b/core/blockchain.go
index 371163569f..d52990ec5a 100644
--- a/core/blockchain.go
+++ b/core/blockchain.go
@@ -341,7 +341,13 @@ func NewBlockChain(db ethdb.Database, genesis *Genesis, engine consensus.Engine,
 	if cfg == nil {
 		cfg = DefaultConfig()
 	}
-	triedb := triedb.NewDatabase(db, cfg.triedbConfig(genesis.IsVerkle()))
+
+	// Open trie database with provided config
+	enableVerkle, err := EnableVerkleAtGenesis(db, genesis)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	triedb := triedb.NewDatabase(db, cfg.triedbConfig(enableVerkle))
 
 	// Write the supplied genesis to the database if it has not been initialized
 	// yet. The corresponding chain config will be returned, either from the
diff --git a/core/genesis.go b/core/genesis.go
index 5bf2555944..f1a620da57 100644
--- a/core/genesis.go
+++ b/core/genesis.go
@@ -572,6 +572,29 @@ func (g *Genesis) MustCommit(db ethdb.Database, triedb *triedb.Database) *types.
 	return block
 }
 
+// EnableVerkleAtGenesis indicates whether the verkle fork should be activated
+// at genesis. This is a temporary solution only for verkle devnet testing, where
+// verkle fork is activated at genesis, and the configured activation date has
+// already passed.
+//
+// In production networks (mainnet and public testnets), verkle activation always
+// occurs after the genesis block, making this function irrelevant in those cases.
+func EnableVerkleAtGenesis(db ethdb.Database, genesis *Genesis) (bool, error) {
+	if genesis != nil {
+		if genesis.Config == nil {
+			return false, errGenesisNoConfig
+		}
+		return genesis.Config.EnableVerkleAtGenesis, nil
+	}
+	if ghash := rawdb.ReadCanonicalHash(db, 0); ghash != (common.Hash{}) {
+		chainCfg := rawdb.ReadChainConfig(db, ghash)
+		if chainCfg != nil {
+			return chainCfg.EnableVerkleAtGenesis, nil
+		}
+	}
+	return false, nil
+}
+
 // DefaultGenesisBlock returns the Ethereum main net genesis block.
 func DefaultGenesisBlock() *Genesis {
 	return &Genesis{