diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index 84da046c60..3b4e0c4466 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -1871,9 +1871,9 @@ func SetEthConfig(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, cfg *ethconfig.Config) {
 			if rawdb.ReadCanonicalHash(chaindb, 0) != (common.Hash{}) {
 				cfg.Genesis = nil // fallback to db content
 
-				var genesis *core.Genesis
-				var err error
-				if genesis, err = core.ReadGenesis(chaindb); err != nil {
+				//validate genesis has PoS enabled in block 0
+				genesis, err := core.ReadGenesis(chaindb)
+				if err != nil {
 					Fatalf("Could not read genesis from database: %v", err)
 				}
 				if !genesis.Config.TerminalTotalDifficultyPassed {