diff --git a/src/Blockcore/Base/InitialBlockDownloadState.cs b/src/Blockcore/Base/InitialBlockDownloadState.cs
index 7a54f6aaa..6f7c0a6e2 100644
--- a/src/Blockcore/Base/InitialBlockDownloadState.cs
+++ b/src/Blockcore/Base/InitialBlockDownloadState.cs
@@ -55,6 +55,13 @@ public InitialBlockDownloadState(IChainState chainState, Network network, Consen
         /// <inheritdoc />
         public bool IsInitialBlockDownload()
         {
+            // The HTTP server starts up before the blockchain database is loaded, this means ConsensusTip can at startup be null. Simply
+            // return IBD as true if ConsensusTip is null.
+            if (this.chainState.ConsensusTip == null)
+            {
+                return true;
+            }
+            
             if (this.lastCheckpointHeight > this.chainState.ConsensusTip.Height)
                 return true;
 
@@ -67,4 +74,4 @@ public bool IsInitialBlockDownload()
             return false;
         }
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}