diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2c5c5569f4..5ac04e13c8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 ### Bug Fixes
 * chore(deps) [\#1141](https://github.com/Finschia/finschia-sdk/pull/1141) Bump github.com/cosmos/ledger-cosmos-go from 0.12.2 to 0.13.2 to fix ledger signing issue
 * (x/auth, x/slashing) [\#1179](https://github.com/Finschia/finschia-sdk/pull/1179) modify missing changes of converting to tendermint
+* (x/auth) [#1274](https://github.com/Finschia/finschia-sdk/pull/1274) `ModuleAccount.Validate` now reports a nil `.BaseAccount` instead of panicking.
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/x/auth/types/account.go b/x/auth/types/account.go
index 52813e9999..d770f0dfaa 100644
--- a/x/auth/types/account.go
+++ b/x/auth/types/account.go
@@ -225,6 +225,10 @@ func (ma ModuleAccount) Validate() error {
 		return errors.New("module account name cannot be blank")
 	}
 
+	if ma.BaseAccount == nil {
+		return errors.New("uninitialized ModuleAccount: BaseAccount is nil")
+	}
+
 	if ma.Address != sdk.AccAddress(crypto.AddressHash([]byte(ma.Name))).String() {
 		return fmt.Errorf("address %s cannot be derived from the module name '%s'", ma.Address, ma.Name)
 	}
diff --git a/x/auth/types/account_test.go b/x/auth/types/account_test.go
index 0aed16c51c..a90a633051 100644
--- a/x/auth/types/account_test.go
+++ b/x/auth/types/account_test.go
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
-	yaml "gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 
 	"github.com/Finschia/finschia-sdk/crypto/keys/secp256k1"
 	"github.com/Finschia/finschia-sdk/testutil/testdata"
@@ -207,3 +207,8 @@ func TestGenesisAccountsContains(t *testing.T) {
 	genAccounts = append(genAccounts, acc)
 	require.True(t, genAccounts.Contains(acc.GetAddress()))
 }
+
+func TestModuleAccountValidateNilBaseAccount(t *testing.T) {
+	ma := &types.ModuleAccount{Name: "foo"}
+	_ = ma.Validate()
+}