diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index 350a88cf3ec2..43e2b5a5b6d5 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -1666,7 +1666,7 @@ func SetEthConfig(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, cfg *ethconfig.Config) {
 		if ctx.GlobalIsSet(DataDirFlag.Name) {
 			// Check if we have an already initialized chain and fall back to
 			// that if so. Otherwise we need to generate a new genesis spec.
-			chaindb := MakeChainDatabase(ctx, stack, true)
+			chaindb := MakeChainDatabase(ctx, stack, false) // TODO (MariusVanDerWijden) make this read only
 			if rawdb.ReadCanonicalHash(chaindb, 0) != (common.Hash{}) {
 				cfg.Genesis = nil // fallback to db content
 			}