diff --git a/rskj-core/src/main/java/org/ethereum/core/genesis/GenesisLoaderImpl.java b/rskj-core/src/main/java/org/ethereum/core/genesis/GenesisLoaderImpl.java
index 75c53643711..0c2bc0354bc 100644
--- a/rskj-core/src/main/java/org/ethereum/core/genesis/GenesisLoaderImpl.java
+++ b/rskj-core/src/main/java/org/ethereum/core/genesis/GenesisLoaderImpl.java
@@ -41,9 +41,14 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.math.BigInteger;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -81,7 +86,7 @@ public GenesisLoaderImpl(
                 activationConfig,
                 stateRootHandler,
                 trieStore,
-                GenesisLoaderImpl.class.getResourceAsStream("/genesis/" + genesisFile),
+                loadGenesisFile(genesisFile),
                 initialNonce,
                 isRsk,
                 useRskip92Encoding,
@@ -230,6 +235,25 @@ private void setupPrecompiledContractsStorage(Repository repository) {
         }
     }
 
+    public static InputStream loadGenesisFile(String fileName) {
+        InputStream inputStream = GenesisLoaderImpl.class.getResourceAsStream("/genesis/" + fileName);
+
+        if (inputStream != null) {
+            return inputStream;
+        }
+
+        Path filePath = Paths.get(fileName);
+        if (Files.exists(filePath)) {
+            try {
+                return new FileInputStream(filePath.toFile());
+            } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+                logger.error(e.getLocalizedMessage());
+            }
+        }
+
+        return null;
+    }
+
     public static void loadGenesisInitalState(Repository repository, Genesis genesis) {
         // first we need to create the accounts, which creates also the associated ContractDetails
         for (RskAddress accounts : genesis.getAccounts().keySet()) {