diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index a366b82..a238ccd 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -358,6 +358,7 @@ function initDict(peer, config) {
 
       // prettier-ignore
       if (!tangle) return cb(null, 0)
+      if (!tangle.root) return cb(null, 0)
       // prettier-ignore
       if (!MsgV4.isMoot(tangle.root)) return cb(Error(`Tangle "${tangleID}" is not a moot`))
       const domain = tangle.root.metadata.domain
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c39f6fe..42daaed 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
     "bs58": "^5.0.0",
     "c8": "7",
     "pzp-caps": "^1.0.0",
-    "pzp-db": "^1.0.1",
+    "pzp-db": "^1.0.3",
     "pzp-keypair": "^1.0.0",
     "rimraf": "^4.4.0",
     "secret-handshake-ext": "0.0.10",