diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6d20774bc..b1ab928cd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 ### Fixes
 - Securejoin: Fix adding and handling Autocrypt-Gossip headers #3914
+- fix verifier-by addr was empty string intead of None #3961
 - Emit DC_EVENT_MSGS_CHANGED for DC_CHAT_ID_ARCHIVED_LINK when the number of archived chats with
   unread messages increases #3959
 
diff --git a/src/peerstate.rs b/src/peerstate.rs
index 10c561287..d0b9f335d 100644
--- a/src/peerstate.rs
+++ b/src/peerstate.rs
@@ -223,7 +223,10 @@ impl Peerstate {
                         .transpose()
                         .unwrap_or_default(),
                     fingerprint_changed: false,
-                    verifier: row.get("verifier")?,
+                    verifier: {
+                        let verifier: Option<String> = row.get("verifier")?;
+                        verifier.filter(|verifier| !verifier.is_empty())
+                    },
                 };
 
                 Ok(res)