diff --git a/backend/src/index.ts b/backend/src/index.ts
index d8fc90f4a..b478115e0 100644
--- a/backend/src/index.ts
+++ b/backend/src/index.ts
@@ -155,6 +155,11 @@ class Server {
     this.setUpWebsocketHandling();
 
     await poolsUpdater.updatePoolsJson(); // Needs to be done before loading the disk cache because we sometimes wipe it
+    if (config.DATABASE.ENABLED === true && config.MEMPOOL.ENABLED && ['mainnet', 'testnet', 'signet'].includes(config.MEMPOOL.NETWORK) && !poolsUpdater.currentSha) {
+      logger.err(`Failed to retreive pools-v2.json sha, cannot run block indexing. Please make sure you've set valid urls in your mempool-config.json::MEMPOOL::POOLS_JSON_URL and mempool-config.json::MEMPOOL::POOLS_JSON_TREE_UR, aborting now`);
+      return process.exit(1);
+    }
+
     await syncAssets.syncAssets$();
     if (config.DATABASE.ENABLED) {
       await mempoolBlocks.updatePools$();