diff --git a/bfa_client/src/clique/clique.go b/bfa_client/src/clique/clique.go
index 697482b0515bf8c269966f98e7b8146abdbf79ad..fbc159e531ec564ee614f910500b482de35c2754 100644
--- a/bfa_client/src/clique/clique.go
+++ b/bfa_client/src/clique/clique.go
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ func sigHash(header BlockHeader) (hash common.Hash) {
 }
 
 func GetSigner(header BlockHeader) (address common.Address) {
+	if header.BlockNumber().Int64() == 0 { // Genesis block has no signers, we return an empty address
+		return
+	}
 	hash := sigHash(header).Bytes()
 	pubkey, err := crypto.Ecrecover(hash, header.Signature())
 	if err != nil {