diff --git a/rai/cli/daemon.cpp b/rai/cli/daemon.cpp
index 931870d4..7d7f28aa 100644
--- a/rai/cli/daemon.cpp
+++ b/rai/cli/daemon.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include <thread>
 
 rai_daemon::daemon_config::daemon_config () :
+representative (rai::genesis_account),
 peering_port (24000),
 rpc_enable (false),
 rpc_address (boost::asio::ip::address_v6::loopback ()),
@@ -18,6 +19,9 @@ rpc_enable_control (false)
 void rai_daemon::daemon_config::serialize (std::ostream & output_a)
 {
     boost::property_tree::ptree tree;
+    std::string representative_l;
+    representative.encode_base58check (representative_l);
+    tree.put ("representative", representative_l);
     tree.put ("peering_port", std::to_string (peering_port));
     boost::property_tree::ptree bootstrap_peers_l;
     for (auto i (bootstrap_peers.begin ()), n (bootstrap_peers.end ()); i != n; ++i)
@@ -41,6 +45,7 @@ rai_daemon::daemon_config::daemon_config (bool & error_a, std::istream & input_a
     try
     {
         boost::property_tree::read_json (input_a, tree);
+        auto representative_l (tree.get <std::string> ("representative"));
         auto peering_port_l (tree.get <std::string> ("peering_port"));
         auto rpc_address_l (tree.get <std::string> ("rpc_address"));
         auto rpc_port_l (tree.get <std::string> ("rpc_port"));
@@ -68,6 +73,7 @@ rai_daemon::daemon_config::daemon_config (bool & error_a, std::istream & input_a
         {
             error_a = true;
         }
+        error_a = error_a | representative.decode_base58check (representative_l);
     }
     catch (std::runtime_error const &)
     {
@@ -106,7 +112,7 @@ void rai_daemon::daemon::run ()
         auto pool (boost::make_shared <boost::network::utils::thread_pool> ());
         rai::processor_service processor;
         rai::client_init init;
-        auto client (std::make_shared <rai::client> (init, service, config.peering_port,  working / "data", processor, rai::genesis_account));
+        auto client (std::make_shared <rai::client> (init, service, config.peering_port,  working / "data", processor, config.representative));
         if (!init.error ())
         {
             client->processor.connect_bootstrap (config.bootstrap_peers);
diff --git a/rai/cli/daemon.hpp b/rai/cli/daemon.hpp
index 7f76ea4f..e87860eb 100644
--- a/rai/cli/daemon.hpp
+++ b/rai/cli/daemon.hpp
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ namespace rai_daemon
         daemon_config ();
         daemon_config (bool &, std::istream &);
         void serialize (std::ostream &);
+        rai::uint256_union representative;
         std::vector <std::string> bootstrap_peers;
         uint16_t peering_port;
         bool rpc_enable;
diff --git a/rai/qt_client/entry.cpp b/rai/qt_client/entry.cpp
index e7e88464..da36920f 100644
--- a/rai/qt_client/entry.cpp
+++ b/rai/qt_client/entry.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ class qt_client_config
 {
 public:
     qt_client_config () :
+    representative (rai::genesis_account),
     peering_port (24000)
     {
         bootstrap_peers.push_back ("rai.raiblocks.net");
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ public:
         try
         {
             boost::property_tree::read_json (stream_a, tree);
+            auto representative_l (tree.get <std::string> ("representative"));
             auto peering_port_l (tree.get <std::string> ("peering_port"));
             auto bootstrap_peers_l (tree.get_child ("bootstrap_peers"));
             bootstrap_peers.clear ();
@@ -37,6 +39,7 @@ public:
             {
                 error_a = true;
             }
+            error_a = error_a | representative.decode_base58check (representative_l);
         }
         catch (std::runtime_error const &)
         {
@@ -47,6 +50,9 @@ public:
     void serialize (std::ostream & stream_a)
     {
         boost::property_tree::ptree tree;
+        std::string representative_l;
+        representative.encode_base58check (representative_l);
+        tree.put ("representative", representative_l);
         tree.put ("peering_port", std::to_string (peering_port));
         boost::property_tree::ptree bootstrap_peers_l;
         for (auto i (bootstrap_peers.begin ()), n (bootstrap_peers.end ()); i != n; ++i)
@@ -58,6 +64,7 @@ public:
         tree.add_child ("bootstrap_peers", bootstrap_peers_l);
         boost::property_tree::write_json (stream_a, tree);
     }
+    rai::uint256_union representative;
     std::vector <std::string> bootstrap_peers;
     uint16_t peering_port;
 };
@@ -89,7 +96,7 @@ int main (int argc, char ** argv)
         auto service (boost::make_shared <boost::asio::io_service> ());
         rai::processor_service processor;
         rai::client_init init;
-        auto client (std::make_shared <rai::client> (init, service, config.peering_port, boost::filesystem::system_complete (argv[0]).parent_path () / "data", processor, rai::genesis_account));
+        auto client (std::make_shared <rai::client> (init, service, config.peering_port, boost::filesystem::system_complete (argv[0]).parent_path () / "data", processor, config.representative));
         QObject::connect (&application, &QApplication::aboutToQuit, [&] ()
         {
             client->stop ();