diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index 3b4e0c4466..dcde481929 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -1877,7 +1877,13 @@ func SetEthConfig(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, cfg *ethconfig.Config) {
 					Fatalf("Could not read genesis from database: %v", err)
 				}
 				if !genesis.Config.TerminalTotalDifficultyPassed {
-					Fatalf("Bad genesis configuration: ttd must be passed in block 0 in developer mode")
+					Fatalf("Bad developer-mode genesis configuration: terminal total difficulty must be passed in block 0 in developer mode")
+				}
+				if genesis.Config.TerminalTotalDifficulty == nil {
+					Fatalf("Bad developer-mode genesis configuration:  terminal total difficulty must be specified.")
+				}
+				if genesis.Difficulty.Cmp(genesis.Config.TerminalTotalDifficulty) != 1 {
+					Fatalf("Bad developer-mode genesis configuration:  genesis block difficulty must be greater than ttd")
 				}
 			}
 			chaindb.Close()
diff --git a/core/genesis.go b/core/genesis.go
index 1045815fab..09dca7b579 100644
--- a/core/genesis.go
+++ b/core/genesis.go
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ func DeveloperGenesisBlock(gasLimit uint64, faucet common.Address) *Genesis {
 		Config:     &config,
 		GasLimit:   gasLimit,
 		BaseFee:    big.NewInt(params.InitialBaseFee),
-		Difficulty: big.NewInt(0),
+		Difficulty: big.NewInt(1),
 		Alloc: map[common.Address]GenesisAccount{
 			common.BytesToAddress([]byte{1}): {Balance: big.NewInt(1)}, // ECRecover
 			common.BytesToAddress([]byte{2}): {Balance: big.NewInt(1)}, // SHA256