diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index fcd4aab312d37..bfbb72c31c8c7 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -1418,6 +1418,10 @@ bool AppInitParameterInteraction(const ArgsManager& args)
 
     nMaxTipAge = args.GetArg("-maxtipage", DEFAULT_MAX_TIP_AGE);
 
+    if (args.IsArgSet("-proxy") && args.GetArg("-proxy", "").empty()) {
+        return InitError(_("No proxy server specified. Use -proxy=<ip> or -proxy=<ip:port>."));
+    }
+
     try {
         const bool fRecoveryEnabled{llmq::utils::QuorumDataRecoveryEnabled()};
         const bool fQuorumVvecRequestsEnabled{llmq::utils::GetEnabledQuorumVvecSyncEntries().size() > 0};
diff --git a/test/functional/feature_config_args.py b/test/functional/feature_config_args.py
index f7e913320f4e0..fd161bf4ae79c 100755
--- a/test/functional/feature_config_args.py
+++ b/test/functional/feature_config_args.py
@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ def test_config_file_parser(self):
         with open(inc_conf_file2_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as conf:
             conf.write('')  # clear
 
+    def test_invalid_command_line_options(self):
+        self.nodes[0].assert_start_raises_init_error(
+            expected_msg='Error: No proxy server specified. Use -proxy=<ip> or -proxy=<ip:port>.',
+            extra_args=['-proxy'],
+        )
 
     def test_log_buffer(self):
         with self.nodes[0].assert_debug_log(expected_msgs=['Warning: parsed potentially confusing double-negative -connect=0\n']):
@@ -124,6 +129,7 @@ def run_test(self):
 
 
         self.test_config_file_parser()
+        self.test_invalid_command_line_options()
 
         # Remove the -datadir argument so it doesn't override the config file
         self.nodes[0].args = [arg for arg in self.nodes[0].args if not arg.startswith("-datadir")]