diff --git a/packages/stargate/src/signingstargateclient.ts b/packages/stargate/src/signingstargateclient.ts
index 39608135..488e34ca 100644
--- a/packages/stargate/src/signingstargateclient.ts
+++ b/packages/stargate/src/signingstargateclient.ts
@@ -276,11 +276,7 @@ export class SigningStargateClient extends StargateClient {
     if (explicitSignerData) {
       signerData = explicitSignerData;
     } else {
-      const accountFromChain = await this.getAccount(signerAddress);
-      if (!accountFromChain) {
-        throw new Error("Account not found");
-      }
-      const { accountNumber, sequence } = accountFromChain;
+      const { accountNumber, sequence } = await this.getSequence(signerAddress);
       const chainId = await this.getChainId();
       signerData = { accountNumber, sequence, chainId };
     }
diff --git a/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.spec.ts b/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.spec.ts
index c28e67b0..e8791532 100644
--- a/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.spec.ts
@@ -131,12 +131,13 @@ describe("StargateClient", () => {
       client.disconnect();
     });
 
-    it("returns null for non-existent address", async () => {
+    it("rejects for non-existent address", async () => {
       pendingWithoutSimapp();
       const client = await StargateClient.connect(simapp.tendermintUrl);
 
-      const account = await client.getSequence(nonExistentAddress);
-      expect(account).toBeNull();
+      await expectAsync(client.getSequence(nonExistentAddress)).toBeRejectedWithError(
+        /account does not exist on chain/i,
+      );
 
       client.disconnect();
     });
diff --git a/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.ts b/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.ts
index bbfb7ff3..7cf1e2b8 100644
--- a/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.ts
+++ b/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.ts
@@ -177,14 +177,17 @@ export class StargateClient {
     return account ? accountFromAny(account) : null;
   }
 
-  public async getSequence(address: string): Promise<SequenceResponse | null> {
+  public async getSequence(address: string): Promise<SequenceResponse> {
     const account = await this.getAccount(address);
-    return account
-      ? {
-          accountNumber: account.accountNumber,
-          sequence: account.sequence,
-        }
-      : null;
+    if (!account) {
+      throw new Error(
+        "Account does not exist on chain. Send some tokens there before trying to query sequence.",
+      );
+    }
+    return {
+      accountNumber: account.accountNumber,
+      sequence: account.sequence,
+    };
   }
 
   public async getBlock(height?: number): Promise<Block> {