diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index dab576bda0..eae15a31e8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 
 ### Bug Fixes
 
+* (server) [#22564](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/22564) Fix fallback genesis path in server
 * (x/group) [#22425](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/22425) Proper address rendering in error
 * (sims) [#21906](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/21906) Skip sims test when running dry on validators
 * (cli) [#21919](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/21919) Query address-by-acc-num by account_id instead of id.
diff --git a/server/util.go b/server/util.go
index 521d13d8a5..0e078a0284 100644
--- a/server/util.go
+++ b/server/util.go
@@ -513,7 +513,12 @@ func DefaultBaseappOptions(appOpts types.AppOptions) []func(*baseapp.BaseApp) {
 	chainID := cast.ToString(appOpts.Get(flags.FlagChainID))
 	if chainID == "" {
 		// fallback to genesis chain-id
-		reader, err := os.Open(filepath.Join(homeDir, "config", "genesis.json"))
+		genesisPathCfg, _ := appOpts.Get("genesis_file").(string)
+		if genesisPathCfg == "" {
+			genesisPathCfg = filepath.Join("config", "genesis.json")
+		}
+
+		reader, err := os.Open(filepath.Join(homeDir, genesisPathCfg))
 		if err != nil {
 			panic(err)
 		}