diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b33db49d7cdf..3fa4ff9a4745 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ Every module contains its own CHANGELOG.md. Please refer to the module you are i
 * (x/consensus) [#19483](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/19483) Add consensus messages registration to consensus module.
 * (types) [#19759](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/19759) Align SignerExtractionAdapter in PriorityNonceMempool Remove.
 * (client) [#19870](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/19870) Add new query command `wait-tx`. Alias `event-query-tx-for` to `wait-tx` for backward compatibility.
+* (genutil) [#19971](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/19971) Allow manually setting the consensus key type in genesis
 
 ### Improvements
 
diff --git a/x/genutil/client/cli/init.go b/x/genutil/client/cli/init.go
index da33a1060b29..2765eafc9acb 100644
--- a/x/genutil/client/cli/init.go
+++ b/x/genutil/client/cli/init.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 
 	cfg "github.com/cometbft/cometbft/config"
+	cmttypes "github.com/cometbft/cometbft/types"
 	"github.com/cosmos/go-bip39"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
@@ -35,6 +36,9 @@ const (
 
 	// FlagDefaultBondDenom defines the default denom to use in the genesis file.
 	FlagDefaultBondDenom = "default-denom"
+
+	// FlagConsensusKeyAlgo defines the algorithm to use for the consensus signing key.
+	FlagConsensusKeyAlgo = "consensus-key-algo"
 )
 
 type printInfo struct {
@@ -158,7 +162,14 @@ func InitCmd(mm *module.Manager) *cobra.Command {
 			appGenesis.InitialHeight = initHeight
 			appGenesis.Consensus = &types.ConsensusGenesis{
 				Validators: nil,
+				Params:     cmttypes.DefaultConsensusParams(),
+			}
+
+			consensusKey, err := cmd.Flags().GetString(FlagConsensusKeyAlgo)
+			if err != nil {
+				return errorsmod.Wrap(err, "Failed to get consensus key algo")
 			}
+			appGenesis.Consensus.Params.Validator.PubKeyTypes = []string{consensusKey}
 
 			if err = genutil.ExportGenesisFile(appGenesis, genFile); err != nil {
 				return errorsmod.Wrap(err, "Failed to export genesis file")
@@ -176,6 +187,7 @@ func InitCmd(mm *module.Manager) *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.Flags().String(flags.FlagChainID, "", "genesis file chain-id, if left blank will be randomly created")
 	cmd.Flags().String(FlagDefaultBondDenom, "", "genesis file default denomination, if left blank default value is 'stake'")
 	cmd.Flags().Int64(flags.FlagInitHeight, 1, "specify the initial block height at genesis")
+	cmd.Flags().String(FlagConsensusKeyAlgo, "ed25519", "algorithm to use for the consensus key")
 
 	return cmd
 }