diff --git a/fantom/scripts/entrypoint.opera.sh b/fantom/scripts/entrypoint.opera.sh
index f00a410e..f3a22fa7 100644
--- a/fantom/scripts/entrypoint.opera.sh
+++ b/fantom/scripts/entrypoint.opera.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ set -e
 datadir=/datadir
 FANTOM_HOME="$datadir"
 
-if existing_file=$(ls "$datadir"/*.g 2>/dev/null | head -n1); then
+existing_file=$(ls "$datadir"/*.g 2>/dev/null | head -n1)
+if [ -n "$existing_file" ]; then
     echo "Some genesis block seems to exist"
     filename=$(basename "$existing_file")
 else