diff --git a/domain/consensus/datastructures/pruningstore/pruning_store.go b/domain/consensus/datastructures/pruningstore/pruning_store.go
index b39c06118b..97ea8c9cda 100644
--- a/domain/consensus/datastructures/pruningstore/pruning_store.go
+++ b/domain/consensus/datastructures/pruningstore/pruning_store.go
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ func (ps *pruningStore) PruningPointCandidate(dbContext model.DBReader, stagingA
 		return ps.pruningPointCandidateCache, nil
 	}
 
-	candidateBytes, err := dbContext.Get(ps.pruningBlockHashKey)
+	candidateBytes, err := dbContext.Get(ps.candidatePruningPointHashKey)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/domain/consensus/processes/pruningmanager/pruning_test.go b/domain/consensus/processes/pruningmanager/pruning_test.go
index 8a983f9a7e..0440052414 100644
--- a/domain/consensus/processes/pruningmanager/pruning_test.go
+++ b/domain/consensus/processes/pruningmanager/pruning_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package pruningmanager_test
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"github.com/kaspanet/kaspad/infrastructure/db/database"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
@@ -107,7 +108,9 @@ func TestPruning(t *testing.T) {
 				blockHashToID[*blockHash] = dagBlock.ID
 
 				pruningPointCandidate, err := tc.PruningStore().PruningPointCandidate(tc.DatabaseContext(), stagingArea)
-				if err != nil {
+				if database.IsNotFoundError(err) {
+					pruningPointCandidate = consensusConfig.GenesisHash
+				} else if err != nil {
 					return err
 				}