diff --git a/core/rawdb/accessors_chain.go b/core/rawdb/accessors_chain.go
index 08e4cc5713..d8825b6b8f 100644
--- a/core/rawdb/accessors_chain.go
+++ b/core/rawdb/accessors_chain.go
@@ -797,6 +797,13 @@ func WriteAncientHeaderChain(db ethdb.AncientWriter, headers []*types.Header) (i
 			if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerReceiptTable, num, nil); err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("can't append block %d receipts: %v", num, err)
 			}
+			// The assumption is held that BAL of ancient block is no longer available
+			// (it may still reachable, but it's not worthwhile to even retrieve it
+			// from the network). A nil entry is stored in the BAL table as the absence
+			// placeholder.
+			if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerBALTable, num, nil); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("can't append block %d bals: %v", num, err)
+			}
 		}
 		return nil
 	})
diff --git a/core/rawdb/accessors_chain_test.go b/core/rawdb/accessors_chain_test.go
index c35f56ee07..76805cb3ec 100644
--- a/core/rawdb/accessors_chain_test.go
+++ b/core/rawdb/accessors_chain_test.go
@@ -926,6 +926,47 @@ func makeTestBAL(t *testing.T) (rlp.RawValue, *bal.BlockAccessList) {
 	return encoded, &decoded
 }
 
+// TestWriteAncientBlocksNilBAL ensures that freezing a block with no block
+// access list produces an empty entry in the BAL ancient table and that
+// ReadAccessList returns nil afterwards (i.e. the empty entry is not surfaced
+// as a malformed BAL).
+func TestWriteAncientBlocksNilBAL(t *testing.T) {
+	db, err := Open(NewMemoryDatabase(), OpenOptions{Ancient: t.TempDir()})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to create database with ancient backend: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer db.Close()
+
+	block := types.NewBlockWithHeader(&types.Header{
+		Number:      big.NewInt(0),
+		Extra:       []byte("nil-bal block"),
+		UncleHash:   types.EmptyUncleHash,
+		TxHash:      types.EmptyTxsHash,
+		ReceiptHash: types.EmptyReceiptsHash,
+	})
+	if block.AccessList() != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("test precondition: block must have nil access list")
+	}
+	if _, err := WriteAncientBlocks(db, []*types.Block{block}, types.EncodeBlockReceiptLists([]types.Receipts{nil})); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("WriteAncientBlocks failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	hash, number := block.Hash(), block.NumberU64()
+
+	// The BAL ancient entry should exist as an empty blob.
+	if blob := ReadAccessListRLP(db, hash, number); len(blob) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("ReadAccessListRLP: got %x, want empty", blob)
+	}
+	// ReadAccessList must surface nil rather than attempting to RLP-decode
+	// the empty payload.
+	if b := ReadAccessList(db, hash, number); b != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ReadAccessList: got %v, want nil", b)
+	}
+	// HasAccessList only consults the KV store and there's nothing there.
+	if HasAccessList(db, hash, number) {
+		t.Fatal("HasAccessList returned true for absent BAL")
+	}
+}
+
 // TestBALStorage tests write/read/delete of BALs in the KV store.
 func TestBALStorage(t *testing.T) {
 	db := NewMemoryDatabase()
diff --git a/core/rawdb/chain_freezer.go b/core/rawdb/chain_freezer.go
index b706f9132c..729e616daf 100644
--- a/core/rawdb/chain_freezer.go
+++ b/core/rawdb/chain_freezer.go
@@ -365,7 +365,11 @@ func (f *chainFreezer) Ancient(kind string, number uint64) ([]byte, error) {
 	if kind == ChainFreezerHeaderTable || kind == ChainFreezerHashTable {
 		return f.ancients.Ancient(kind, number)
 	}
-	tail, err := f.ancients.Tail(tableTailGroup(kind))
+	group, err := tableTailGroup(kind)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	tail, err := f.ancients.Tail(group)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -387,13 +391,11 @@ func (f *chainFreezer) Ancient(kind string, number uint64) ([]byte, error) {
 }
 
 // tableTailGroup returns the tail group identifier for a chain freezer table.
-// Unknown tables resolve to the default block-data group, since the chain
-// freezer's only prunable group today is bodies+receipts.
-func tableTailGroup(kind string) string {
+func tableTailGroup(kind string) (string, error) {
 	if cfg, ok := chainFreezerTableConfigs[kind]; ok {
-		return cfg.tailGroup
+		return cfg.tailGroup, nil
 	}
-	return ChainFreezerBlockDataGroup
+	return "", errUnknownTable
 }
 
 // ReadAncients executes an operation while preventing mutations to the freezer,
diff --git a/core/rawdb/freezer_test.go b/core/rawdb/freezer_test.go
index 1b40ef06c8..0fc4f90011 100644
--- a/core/rawdb/freezer_test.go
+++ b/core/rawdb/freezer_test.go
@@ -371,6 +371,133 @@ func checkAncientCount(t *testing.T, f *Freezer, kind string, n uint64) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestChainFreezerBALAlignment exercises the new-table alignment path: a chain
+// freezer is first opened with the legacy table set (no BAL), populated with a
+// few blocks and closed. It is then re-opened with the full chain freezer
+// table set (which includes the BAL column). The expectation is that the BAL
+// table is fast-forwarded to the existing head without disturbing the body /
+// receipt tables, and that subsequent writes append cleanly across all tables.
+func TestChainFreezerBALAlignment(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+
+	// Build a "legacy" subset of the chain freezer table set, omitting BAL.
+	legacyTables := make(map[string]freezerTableConfig)
+	for name, cfg := range chainFreezerTableConfigs {
+		if name == ChainFreezerBALTable {
+			continue
+		}
+		legacyTables[name] = cfg
+	}
+
+	// First open: legacy config. Fill in `items` blocks of dummy data.
+	const items = uint64(10)
+	payload := bytes.Repeat([]byte{0xab}, 64)
+
+	f, err := NewFreezer(dir, "", false, 2049, legacyTables)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("can't open legacy freezer: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := f.ModifyAncients(func(op ethdb.AncientWriteOp) error {
+		for i := uint64(0); i < items; i++ {
+			if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerHashTable, i, payload); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerHeaderTable, i, payload); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerBodiesTable, i, payload); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerReceiptTable, i, payload); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+		return nil
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("legacy write failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got, _ := f.Ancients(); got != items {
+		t.Fatalf("legacy head: got %d, want %d", got, items)
+	}
+	require.NoError(t, f.Close())
+
+	// Re-open with the full chain freezer table set, which now includes BAL.
+	// repair() should detect the empty BAL table and fast-forward it to the
+	// existing head rather than truncating everyone down to zero.
+	f, err = NewFreezer(dir, "", false, 2049, chainFreezerTableConfigs)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("can't re-open freezer with BAL added: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	// The head must be preserved.
+	if got, _ := f.Ancients(); got != items {
+		t.Fatalf("head after re-open: got %d, want %d", got, items)
+	}
+	// Existing data must still be readable in full.
+	for i := uint64(0); i < items; i++ {
+		for _, kind := range []string{
+			ChainFreezerHashTable, ChainFreezerHeaderTable,
+			ChainFreezerBodiesTable, ChainFreezerReceiptTable,
+		} {
+			got, err := f.Ancient(kind, i)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("read %s[%d]: %v", kind, i, err)
+			}
+			if !bytes.Equal(got, payload) {
+				t.Fatalf("read %s[%d]: payload mismatch", kind, i)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	// The block-data tail must be unchanged (no spurious tail bump).
+	if tail, err := f.Tail(ChainFreezerBlockDataGroup); err != nil || tail != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("blockdata tail: got %d (err %v), want 0", tail, err)
+	}
+	// The BAL tail should equal the head — the table is empty but aligned.
+	if tail, err := f.Tail(ChainFreezerBALGroup); err != nil || tail != items {
+		t.Fatalf("BAL tail: got %d (err %v), want %d", tail, err, items)
+	}
+	// Reads to BAL for any pre-alignment block must report out-of-bounds.
+	for i := uint64(0); i < items; i++ {
+		if _, err := f.Ancient(ChainFreezerBALTable, i); err == nil {
+			t.Fatalf("reading BAL[%d] succeeded; want error (out of bounds)", i)
+		}
+	}
+	// A subsequent batch must append uniformly to every table, BAL included.
+	balPayload := []byte("real-bal")
+	if _, err := f.ModifyAncients(func(op ethdb.AncientWriteOp) error {
+		i := items
+		if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerHashTable, i, payload); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerHeaderTable, i, payload); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerBodiesTable, i, payload); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerReceiptTable, i, payload); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := op.AppendRaw(ChainFreezerBALTable, i, balPayload); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return nil
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("post-alignment write failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got, _ := f.Ancients(); got != items+1 {
+		t.Fatalf("head after post-alignment write: got %d, want %d", got, items+1)
+	}
+	got, err := f.Ancient(ChainFreezerBALTable, items)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("BAL[%d]: %v", items, err)
+	}
+	if !bytes.Equal(got, balPayload) {
+		t.Fatalf("BAL[%d]: got %x, want %x", items, got, balPayload)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestFreezerCloseSync(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 	f, _ := newFreezerForTesting(t, map[string]freezerTableConfig{"a": {noSnappy: true}, "b": {noSnappy: true}})