diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7963de6c9..fe5202f80 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 - [\#687](https://github.com/cosmos/evm/pull/687) Avoid blocking node shutdown when evm indexer is enabled, log startup failures instead of using errgroup.
 - [\#689](https://github.com/cosmos/evm/pull/689) Align debug addr for hex address.
 - [\#668](https://github.com/cosmos/evm/pull/668) Fix panic in legacy mempool when Reset() was called with a skipped header between old and new block.
+- [\#730](https://github.com/cosmos/evm/pull/730) Fix panic if evm mempool not used.
 
 ### IMPROVEMENTS
 
diff --git a/server/start.go b/server/start.go
index a23c5bc11..725778857 100644
--- a/server/start.go
+++ b/server/start.go
@@ -444,7 +444,7 @@ func startInProcess(svrCtx *server.Context, clientCtx client.Context, opts Start
 			return err
 		}
 
-		if m, ok := evmApp.GetMempool().(*evmmempool.ExperimentalEVMMempool); ok {
+		if m, ok := evmApp.GetMempool().(*evmmempool.ExperimentalEVMMempool); ok && m != nil {
 			m.SetEventBus(bftNode.EventBus())
 		}
 		defer func() {