diff --git a/core/lib/protobuf_config/src/genesis.rs b/core/lib/protobuf_config/src/genesis.rs
index 754f1fc16d0e..9cab754150d2 100644
--- a/core/lib/protobuf_config/src/genesis.rs
+++ b/core/lib/protobuf_config/src/genesis.rs
@@ -29,12 +29,21 @@ impl ProtoRepr for proto::Genesis {
     type Type = configs::GenesisConfig;
     fn read(&self) -> anyhow::Result<Self::Type> {
         let prover = required(&self.prover).context("prover")?;
+        let protocol_version = if let Some(protocol_version) =
+            &self.genesis_protocol_semantic_version
+        {
+            ProtocolSemanticVersion::from_str(protocol_version).context("protocol_version")?
+        } else {
+            let minor_version = *required(&self.genesis_protocol_version).context("Either genesis_protocol_version or genesis_protocol_semantic_version should be presented")?;
+            ProtocolSemanticVersion::new(
+                (minor_version as u16)
+                    .try_into()
+                    .context("Wrong protocol version")?,
+                0.into(),
+            )
+        };
         Ok(Self::Type {
-            protocol_version: Some(
-                required(&self.genesis_protocol_semantic_version)
-                    .and_then(|x| ProtocolSemanticVersion::from_str(x).map_err(Into::into))
-                    .context("protocol_version")?,
-            ),
+            protocol_version: Some(protocol_version),
             genesis_root_hash: Some(
                 required(&self.genesis_root)
                     .and_then(|x| parse_h256(x))
@@ -98,6 +107,7 @@ impl ProtoRepr for proto::Genesis {
             genesis_root: this.genesis_root_hash.map(|x| format!("{:?}", x)),
             genesis_rollup_leaf_index: this.rollup_last_leaf_index,
             genesis_batch_commitment: this.genesis_commitment.map(|x| format!("{:?}", x)),
+            genesis_protocol_version: this.protocol_version.map(|x| x.minor as u64),
             genesis_protocol_semantic_version: this.protocol_version.map(|x| x.to_string()),
             default_aa_hash: this.default_aa_hash.map(|x| format!("{:?}", x)),
             bootloader_hash: this.bootloader_hash.map(|x| format!("{:?}", x)),
diff --git a/core/lib/protobuf_config/src/proto/config/genesis.proto b/core/lib/protobuf_config/src/proto/config/genesis.proto
index 5a5e7f1d539d..be3c420b6ab1 100644
--- a/core/lib/protobuf_config/src/proto/config/genesis.proto
+++ b/core/lib/protobuf_config/src/proto/config/genesis.proto
@@ -17,17 +17,17 @@ message Prover {
 
 
 message Genesis {
-  optional string genesis_root = 1; // optional; h256
-  optional uint64 genesis_rollup_leaf_index = 2; // optional;
-  optional string genesis_batch_commitment = 3; // optional; h256
-  optional string default_aa_hash = 5; // optional; h256
-  optional string bootloader_hash = 6; // optional; h256
-  optional uint64 l1_chain_id = 7; // optional;
-  optional uint64 l2_chain_id = 8; // optional;
+  optional string genesis_root = 1; // required; h256
+  optional uint64 genesis_rollup_leaf_index = 2; // required;
+  optional string genesis_batch_commitment = 3; // required; h256
+  optional uint64 genesis_protocol_version = 4; // optional;
+  optional string default_aa_hash = 5; // required; h256
+  optional string bootloader_hash = 6; // required; h256
+  optional uint64 l1_chain_id = 7; // required;
+  optional uint64 l2_chain_id = 8; // required;
   optional string fee_account = 9; // h160
   optional Prover prover = 10;
   optional L1BatchCommitDataGeneratorMode l1_batch_commit_data_generator_mode = 29; // optional, default to rollup
   optional string genesis_protocol_semantic_version = 12; // optional;
-  reserved 4; reserved "genesis_protocol_version";
   reserved 11; reserved "shared_bridge";
 }
diff --git a/etc/env/file_based/genesis.yaml b/etc/env/file_based/genesis.yaml
index 49197c1f4aa5..e3513a8b6421 100644
--- a/etc/env/file_based/genesis.yaml
+++ b/etc/env/file_based/genesis.yaml
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ genesis_root: 0xabdb766b18a479a5c783a4b80e12686bc8ea3cc2d8a3050491b701d72370ebb5
 genesis_rollup_leaf_index: 54
 genesis_batch_commitment: 0x2d00e5f8d77afcebf58a6b82ae56ba967566fe7dfbcb6760319fb0d215d18ffd
 genesis_protocol_semantic_version: '0.24.0'
+# deprecated
+genesis_protocol_version: 24
 default_aa_hash: 0x01000563374c277a2c1e34659a2a1e87371bb6d852ce142022d497bfb50b9e32
 bootloader_hash: 0x010008e742608b21bf7eb23c1a9d0602047e3618b464c9b59c0fba3b3d7ab66e
 l1_chain_id: 9