diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 90c25018e3..7ec208778e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 ## Bug Fixes
 
 * (crypto) [#19691](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/19745) Fix tx sign doesn't throw an error when incorrect Ledger is used.
+* (baseapp) [#19970](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/19970) Fix default config values to use no-op mempool as default.
 
 ## [v0.50.5](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/releases/tag/v0.50.5) - 2024-03-12
 
diff --git a/baseapp/abci_test.go b/baseapp/abci_test.go
index 858c3ce976..24e94092cd 100644
--- a/baseapp/abci_test.go
+++ b/baseapp/abci_test.go
@@ -1391,7 +1391,7 @@ func TestPrecommiterCalledWithDeliverState(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestABCI_Proposal_HappyPath(t *testing.T) {
 	anteKey := []byte("ante-key")
-	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool()
+	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceMaxTxOpt(5000))
 	anteOpt := func(bapp *baseapp.BaseApp) {
 		bapp.SetAnteHandler(anteHandlerTxTest(t, capKey1, anteKey))
 	}
@@ -1569,7 +1569,7 @@ func TestABCI_Proposals_WithVE(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestABCI_PrepareProposal_ReachedMaxBytes(t *testing.T) {
 	anteKey := []byte("ante-key")
-	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool()
+	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceMaxTxOpt(5000))
 	anteOpt := func(bapp *baseapp.BaseApp) {
 		bapp.SetAnteHandler(anteHandlerTxTest(t, capKey1, anteKey))
 	}
@@ -1599,7 +1599,7 @@ func TestABCI_PrepareProposal_ReachedMaxBytes(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestABCI_PrepareProposal_BadEncoding(t *testing.T) {
 	anteKey := []byte("ante-key")
-	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool()
+	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceMaxTxOpt(5000))
 	anteOpt := func(bapp *baseapp.BaseApp) {
 		bapp.SetAnteHandler(anteHandlerTxTest(t, capKey1, anteKey))
 	}
@@ -1626,7 +1626,7 @@ func TestABCI_PrepareProposal_BadEncoding(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestABCI_PrepareProposal_OverGasUnderBytes(t *testing.T) {
-	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool()
+	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceMaxTxOpt(5000))
 	suite := NewBaseAppSuite(t, baseapp.SetMempool(pool))
 	baseapptestutil.RegisterCounterServer(suite.baseApp.MsgServiceRouter(), NoopCounterServerImpl{})
 
@@ -1667,7 +1667,7 @@ func TestABCI_PrepareProposal_OverGasUnderBytes(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestABCI_PrepareProposal_MaxGas(t *testing.T) {
-	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool()
+	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceMaxTxOpt(5000))
 	suite := NewBaseAppSuite(t, baseapp.SetMempool(pool))
 	baseapptestutil.RegisterCounterServer(suite.baseApp.MsgServiceRouter(), NoopCounterServerImpl{})
 
@@ -1705,7 +1705,7 @@ func TestABCI_PrepareProposal_MaxGas(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestABCI_PrepareProposal_Failures(t *testing.T) {
 	anteKey := []byte("ante-key")
-	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool()
+	pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceMaxTxOpt(5000))
 	anteOpt := func(bapp *baseapp.BaseApp) {
 		bapp.SetAnteHandler(anteHandlerTxTest(t, capKey1, anteKey))
 	}
diff --git a/server/config/config.go b/server/config/config.go
index bad21f6df3..d97dedc5f5 100644
--- a/server/config/config.go
+++ b/server/config/config.go
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ func DefaultConfig() *Config {
 			},
 		},
 		Mempool: MempoolConfig{
-			MaxTxs: 5_000,
+			MaxTxs: -1,
 		},
 	}
 }
diff --git a/server/config/toml.go b/server/config/toml.go
index 85ac374373..b3c20c69a0 100644
--- a/server/config/toml.go
+++ b/server/config/toml.go
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ stop-node-on-err = {{ .Streaming.ABCI.StopNodeOnErr }}
 
 [mempool]
 # Setting max-txs to 0 will allow for a unbounded amount of transactions in the mempool.
-# Setting max_txs to negative 1 (-1) will disable transactions from being inserted into the mempool.
+# Setting max_txs to negative 1 (-1) will disable transactions from being inserted into the mempool (no-op mempool).
 # Setting max_txs to a positive number (> 0) will limit the number of transactions in the mempool, by the specified amount.
 #
 # Note, this configuration only applies to SDK built-in app-side mempool
diff --git a/tools/confix/data/v0.50-app.toml b/tools/confix/data/v0.50-app.toml
index 75f587576e..32d9af06b9 100644
--- a/tools/confix/data/v0.50-app.toml
+++ b/tools/confix/data/v0.50-app.toml
@@ -227,9 +227,9 @@ stop-node-on-err = true
 
 [mempool]
 # Setting max-txs to 0 will allow for a unbounded amount of transactions in the mempool.
-# Setting max_txs to negative 1 (-1) will disable transactions from being inserted into the mempool.
+# Setting max_txs to negative 1 (-1) will disable transactions from being inserted into the mempool (no-op mempool).
 # Setting max_txs to a positive number (> 0) will limit the number of transactions in the mempool, by the specified amount.
 #
 # Note, this configuration only applies to SDK built-in app-side mempool
 # implementations.
-max-txs = 5000
+max-txs = -1
diff --git a/types/mempool/mempool_test.go b/types/mempool/mempool_test.go
index 9ed3b4d596..05f61e46de 100644
--- a/types/mempool/mempool_test.go
+++ b/types/mempool/mempool_test.go
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ type MempoolTestSuite struct {
 
 func (s *MempoolTestSuite) resetMempool() {
 	s.iterations = 0
-	s.mempool = mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool()
+	s.mempool = mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceMaxTxOpt(5000))
 }
 
 func (s *MempoolTestSuite) SetupTest() {
diff --git a/types/mempool/sender_nonce.go b/types/mempool/sender_nonce.go
index 7645bda339..57cdb4dd4f 100644
--- a/types/mempool/sender_nonce.go
+++ b/types/mempool/sender_nonce.go
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ var (
 	_ Iterator = (*senderNonceMempoolIterator)(nil)
 )
 
-var DefaultMaxTx = 0
+var DefaultMaxTx = -1
 
 // SenderNonceMempool is a mempool that prioritizes transactions within a sender
 // by nonce, the lowest first, but selects a random sender on each iteration.
diff --git a/types/mempool/sender_nonce_test.go b/types/mempool/sender_nonce_test.go
index 4d2762bfb2..4e6b10cd7e 100644
--- a/types/mempool/sender_nonce_test.go
+++ b/types/mempool/sender_nonce_test.go
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ func (s *MempoolTestSuite) TestTxOrder() {
 	}
 	for i, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("case %d", i), func(t *testing.T) {
-			pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceSeedOpt(tt.seed))
+			pool := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceMaxTxOpt(5000), mempool.SenderNonceSeedOpt(tt.seed))
 			// create test txs and insert into mempool
 			for i, ts := range tt.txs {
 				tx := testTx{id: i, priority: int64(ts.p), nonce: uint64(ts.n), address: ts.a}
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ func (s *MempoolTestSuite) TestTxNotFoundOnSender() {
 	t := s.T()
 	ctx := sdk.NewContext(nil, cmtproto.Header{}, false, log.NewNopLogger())
 	accounts := simtypes.RandomAccounts(rand.New(rand.NewSource(0)), 1)
-	mp := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool()
+	mp := mempool.NewSenderNonceMempool(mempool.SenderNonceMaxTxOpt(5000))
 
 	txSender := testTx{
 		nonce:    0,