diff --git a/cmd/zetacored/root.go b/cmd/zetacored/root.go
index 84713de816..82a146c582 100644
--- a/cmd/zetacored/root.go
+++ b/cmd/zetacored/root.go
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ func NewRootCmd() (*cobra.Command, appparams.EncodingConfig) {
 
 			customAppTemplate, customAppConfig := initAppConfig()
 
-			return server.InterceptConfigsPreRunHandler(cmd, customAppTemplate, customAppConfig, tmcfg.DefaultConfig())
+			return server.InterceptConfigsPreRunHandler(cmd, customAppTemplate, customAppConfig, initTmConfig())
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -107,6 +107,18 @@ func initAppConfig() (string, interface{}) {
 	return servercfg.AppConfig(zetacoredconfig.BaseDenom)
 }
 
+// initTmConfig overrides the default Tendermint config
+func initTmConfig() *tmcfg.Config {
+	cfg := tmcfg.DefaultConfig()
+
+	// use mempool version 1 to enable tx priority
+	if cfg.Mempool != nil {
+		cfg.Mempool.Version = tmcfg.MempoolV1
+	}
+
+	return cfg
+}
+
 func initRootCmd(rootCmd *cobra.Command, encodingConfig appparams.EncodingConfig) {
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(
 		ethermintclient.ValidateChainID(