diff --git a/changes/2024-05-30T141646-0500.txt b/changes/2024-05-30T141646-0500.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e8eb427fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/2024-05-30T141646-0500.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Don't prune cuts on startup. This avoids a race condition where we prune cuts on startup, and we don't write a cut before shutting down.
diff --git a/src/Chainweb/CutDB.hs b/src/Chainweb/CutDB.hs
index ea74dec47..c76f6c32b 100644
--- a/src/Chainweb/CutDB.hs
+++ b/src/Chainweb/CutDB.hs
@@ -439,8 +439,6 @@ startCutDb config logfun headerStore payloadStore cutHashesStore = mask_ $ do
     queue <- newEmptyPQueue
     cutAsync <- asyncWithUnmask $ \u -> u $ processor queue cutVar
     logg Debug "CutDB started"
-    unless (_cutDbParamsReadOnly config) $
-        pruneCuts logfun (_chainwebVersion headerStore) config (cutAvgBlockHeight v initialCut) cutHashesStore
     return CutDb
         { _cutDbCut = cutVar
         , _cutDbQueue = queue