diff --git a/nano/node/json_handler.cpp b/nano/node/json_handler.cpp
index a3833b5c..c9c804cf 100644
--- a/nano/node/json_handler.cpp
+++ b/nano/node/json_handler.cpp
@@ -1024,8 +1024,14 @@ void nano::json_handler::active_difficulty ()
 	response_l.put ("multiplier", 1.0);
 	if (include_trend)
 	{
-		boost::property_tree::ptree trend_entry_l;
-		response_l.add_child ("difficulty_trend", trend_entry_l);
+		boost::property_tree::ptree difficulty_trend_l;
+
+		// To keep this RPC backwards-compatible
+		boost::property_tree::ptree entry;
+		entry.put ("", "1.000000000000000");
+		difficulty_trend_l.push_back (std::make_pair ("", entry));
+
+		response_l.add_child ("difficulty_trend", difficulty_trend_l);
 	}
 	response_errors ();
 }
diff --git a/nano/rpc_test/rpc.cpp b/nano/rpc_test/rpc.cpp
index e2df5e74..00c9d8c8 100644
--- a/nano/rpc_test/rpc.cpp
+++ b/nano/rpc_test/rpc.cpp
@@ -7159,7 +7159,7 @@ TEST (rpc, active_difficulty)
 		auto trend_opt (response.json.get_child_optional ("difficulty_trend"));
 		ASSERT_TRUE (trend_opt.is_initialized ());
 		auto & trend (trend_opt.get ());
-		ASSERT_EQ (0, trend.size ());
+		ASSERT_EQ (1, trend.size ());
 	}
 }