diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index b80c171f116..a94bbe6460e 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -1096,21 +1096,8 @@ static bool LockDataDirectory(bool probeOnly)
 bool AppInitSanityChecks(const kernel::Context& kernel)
 {
     // ********************************************************* Step 4: sanity checks
-    auto maybe_error = kernel::SanityChecks(kernel);
-
-    if (maybe_error.has_value()) {
-        switch (maybe_error.value()) {
-        case kernel::SanityCheckError::ERROR_ECC:
-            InitError(Untranslated("Elliptic curve cryptography sanity check failure. Aborting."));
-            break;
-        case kernel::SanityCheckError::ERROR_RANDOM:
-            InitError(Untranslated("OS cryptographic RNG sanity check failure. Aborting."));
-            break;
-        case kernel::SanityCheckError::ERROR_CHRONO:
-            InitError(Untranslated("Clock epoch mismatch. Aborting."));
-            break;
-        } // no default case, so the compiler can warn about missing cases
-
+    if (auto error = kernel::SanityChecks(kernel)) {
+        InitError(*error);
         return InitError(strprintf(_("Initialization sanity check failed. %s is shutting down."), PACKAGE_NAME));
     }
 
diff --git a/src/kernel/checks.cpp b/src/kernel/checks.cpp
index 2a1dd3bfa21..f476db60f50 100644
--- a/src/kernel/checks.cpp
+++ b/src/kernel/checks.cpp
@@ -7,21 +7,22 @@
 #include <key.h>
 #include <random.h>
 #include <util/time.h>
+#include <util/translation.h>
 
 namespace kernel {
 
-std::optional<SanityCheckError> SanityChecks(const Context&)
+std::optional<bilingual_str> SanityChecks(const Context&)
 {
     if (!ECC_InitSanityCheck()) {
-        return SanityCheckError::ERROR_ECC;
+        return Untranslated("Elliptic curve cryptography sanity check failure. Aborting.");
     }
 
     if (!Random_SanityCheck()) {
-        return SanityCheckError::ERROR_RANDOM;
+        return Untranslated("OS cryptographic RNG sanity check failure. Aborting.");
     }
 
     if (!ChronoSanityCheck()) {
-        return SanityCheckError::ERROR_CHRONO;
+        return Untranslated("Clock epoch mismatch. Aborting.");
     }
 
     return std::nullopt;
diff --git a/src/kernel/checks.h b/src/kernel/checks.h
index 80b207f607d..3eb14824fb6 100644
--- a/src/kernel/checks.h
+++ b/src/kernel/checks.h
@@ -7,20 +7,16 @@
 
 #include <optional>
 
+struct bilingual_str;
+
 namespace kernel {
 
 struct Context;
 
-enum class SanityCheckError {
-    ERROR_ECC,
-    ERROR_RANDOM,
-    ERROR_CHRONO,
-};
-
 /**
  *  Ensure a usable environment with all necessary library support.
  */
-std::optional<SanityCheckError> SanityChecks(const Context&);
+std::optional<bilingual_str> SanityChecks(const Context&);
 
 }