diff --git a/common/nyxd-scraper/src/scraper/mod.rs b/common/nyxd-scraper/src/scraper/mod.rs
index 2b4e228d7c..1b616f3247 100644
--- a/common/nyxd-scraper/src/scraper/mod.rs
+++ b/common/nyxd-scraper/src/scraper/mod.rs
@@ -47,7 +47,10 @@ pub struct NyxdScraperBuilder {
 }
 
 impl NyxdScraperBuilder {
-    pub async fn build_and_start(self) -> Result<NyxdScraper, ScraperError> {
+    pub async fn build_and_start(
+        self,
+        start_block: Option<u32>,
+    ) -> Result<NyxdScraper, ScraperError> {
         let scraper = NyxdScraper::new(self.config).await?;
 
         let (processing_tx, processing_rx) = unbounded_channel();
@@ -90,6 +93,10 @@ impl NyxdScraperBuilder {
         )
         .await?;
 
+        if let Some(height) = start_block {
+            scraper.process_block_range(Some(height), None).await?;
+        }
+
         scraper.start_tasks(block_requester, block_processor, chain_subscriber);
 
         Ok(scraper)
@@ -202,10 +209,10 @@ impl NyxdScraper {
             .await?
             .with_pruning(PruningOptions::nothing());
 
-        let current_height = self.rpc_client.current_block_height().await? as u32;
+        let mut current_height = self.rpc_client.current_block_height().await? as u32;
         let last_processed = block_processor.last_process_height();
 
-        let starting_height = match starting_height {
+        let mut starting_height = match starting_height {
             // always attempt to use whatever the user has provided
             Some(explicit) => explicit,
             None => {
@@ -219,7 +226,8 @@ impl NyxdScraper {
             }
         };
 
-        let end_height = match end_height {
+        let must_catch_up = end_height.is_none();
+        let mut end_height = match end_height {
             // always attempt to use whatever the user has provided
             Some(explicit) => explicit,
             None => {
@@ -234,32 +242,62 @@ impl NyxdScraper {
             }
         };
 
-        info!(
-            starting_height = starting_height,
-            end_height = end_height,
-            "attempting to process block range"
-        );
+        let mut last_processed = starting_height;
 
-        let range = (starting_height..=end_height).collect::<Vec<_>>();
+        while last_processed < current_height {
+            info!(
+                starting_height = starting_height,
+                end_height = end_height,
+                "attempting to process block range"
+            );
 
-        // the most likely bottleneck here are going to be the chain queries,
-        // so batch multiple requests
-        for batch in range.chunks(4) {
-            let batch_result = join_all(
-                batch
-                    .iter()
-                    .map(|height| self.rpc_client.get_basic_block_details(*height)),
-            )
-            .await;
-            for result in batch_result {
-                match result {
-                    Ok(block) => block_processor.process_block(block.into()).await?,
-                    Err(err) => {
-                        error!("failed to retrieve the block: {err}. stopping...");
-                        return Err(err);
+            let range = (starting_height..=end_height).collect::<Vec<_>>();
+
+            // the most likely bottleneck here are going to be the chain queries,
+            // so batch multiple requests
+            for batch in range.chunks(4) {
+                let batch_result = join_all(
+                    batch
+                        .iter()
+                        .map(|height| self.rpc_client.get_basic_block_details(*height)),
+                )
+                .await;
+                for result in batch_result {
+                    match result {
+                        Ok(block) => block_processor.process_block(block.into()).await?,
+                        Err(err) => {
+                            error!("failed to retrieve the block: {err}. stopping...");
+                            return Err(err);
+                        }
                     }
                 }
             }
+
+            // if we don't need to catch up, return early
+            if !must_catch_up {
+                return Ok(());
+            }
+
+            // check if we have caught up to the current block height
+            last_processed = end_height;
+            current_height = self.rpc_client.current_block_height().await? as u32;
+
+            info!(
+                last_processed = last_processed,
+                current_height = current_height,
+                "🏃 still need to catch up..."
+            );
+
+            starting_height = last_processed + 1;
+            end_height = current_height;
+        }
+
+        if must_catch_up {
+            info!(
+                last_processed = last_processed,
+                current_height = current_height,
+                "✅ block processing has caught up!"
+            );
         }
 
         Ok(())
diff --git a/nym-data-observatory/src/chain_scraper/mod.rs b/nym-data-observatory/src/chain_scraper/mod.rs
index 157dbd28bb..650b3f0c34 100644
--- a/nym-data-observatory/src/chain_scraper/mod.rs
+++ b/nym-data-observatory/src/chain_scraper/mod.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ pub(crate) async fn run_chain_scraper() -> anyhow::Result<ScraperStorage> {
     let websocket_url = reqwest::Url::parse(&websocket_url)?;
     let rpc_url = reqwest::Url::parse(&rpc_url)?;
 
+    let start_block_height = std::env::var("NYXD_SCRAPER_START_HEIGHT")
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|value| value.parse::<u32>().ok());
+
     let scraper = NyxdScraper::builder(Config {
         websocket_url,
         rpc_url,
@@ -16,7 +20,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn run_chain_scraper() -> anyhow::Result<ScraperStorage> {
         store_precommits: false,
     });
 
-    let storage = scraper.build_and_start().await?;
+    let instance = scraper.build_and_start(start_block_height).await?;
 
-    Ok(storage.storage)
+    Ok(instance.storage)
 }