diff --git a/codec/address/bech32_codec.go b/codec/address/bech32_codec.go
index 576c57dab6d2..56110d05d231 100644
--- a/codec/address/bech32_codec.go
+++ b/codec/address/bech32_codec.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ func NewBech32Codec(prefix string) address.Codec {
 // StringToBytes encodes text to bytes
 func (bc Bech32Codec) StringToBytes(text string) ([]byte, error) {
 	if len(strings.TrimSpace(text)) == 0 {
+		panic(errors.New("1 empty address string is not allowed"))
 		return []byte{}, errors.New("1 empty address string is not allowed")
 	}