diff --git a/consensus/cometbft/service/service.go b/consensus/cometbft/service/service.go
index 74d24a61d..33e593d5f 100644
--- a/consensus/cometbft/service/service.go
+++ b/consensus/cometbft/service/service.go
@@ -184,7 +184,24 @@ func (s *Service[_]) Start(
 		return err
 	}
 
-	return s.node.Start()
+	started := make(chan struct{})
+
+	// we start the node in a goroutine since calling Start() can block if genesis
+	// time is in the future causing us not to handle signals gracefully.
+	go func() {
+		err = s.node.Start()
+		started <- struct{}{}
+	}()
+
+	select {
+	case <-ctx.Done():
+		return ctx.Err()
+	case <-started:
+	}
+
+	close(started)
+
+	return err
 }
 
 func (s *Service[_]) Stop() error {