diff --git a/src/database/mod.rs b/src/database/mod.rs
index d6171208..26cb8803 100644
--- a/src/database/mod.rs
+++ b/src/database/mod.rs
@@ -257,14 +257,6 @@ impl KeyValueDatabase {
             }
         };
 
-        if config.registration_token == Some(String::new()) {
-            return Err(Error::bad_config("Registration token is empty"));
-        }
-
-        if config.max_request_size < 4096 {
-            error!(?config.max_request_size, "Max request size is less than 4KB. Please increase it.");
-        }
-
         let (presence_sender, presence_receiver) = mpsc::unbounded_channel();
 
         let db_raw = Box::new(Self {
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index d6ccb3d3..1613812c 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -153,6 +153,16 @@ async fn main() {
 
     /* ad-hoc config validation/checks */
 
+    // check if the user specified a registration token as `""`
+    if config.registration_token == Some(String::new()) {
+        error!("Registration token was specified but is empty (\"\")");
+        return;
+    }
+
+    if config.max_request_size < 4096 {
+        error!(?config.max_request_size, "Max request size is less than 4KB. Please increase it.");
+    }
+
     // check if user specified valid IP CIDR ranges on startup
     for cidr in services().globals.ip_range_denylist() {
         let _ = ipaddress::IPAddress::parse(cidr)