diff --git a/miner/scroll_worker.go b/miner/scroll_worker.go
index 293c4398f2bc..02f331bc200a 100644
--- a/miner/scroll_worker.go
+++ b/miner/scroll_worker.go
@@ -507,6 +507,10 @@ func (w *worker) newWork(now time.Time, parentHash common.Hash, reorging bool, r
 		reorging:       reorging,
 		reorgReason:    reorgReason,
 	}
+
+	// initiliaze pending block with an empty block to make sure we always have
+	// a pending block to serve RPC requests
+	w.updateSnapshot()
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/params/version.go b/params/version.go
index ec3dfc492eef..dec887edfcb2 100644
--- a/params/version.go
+++ b/params/version.go
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import (
 const (
 	VersionMajor = 5         // Major version component of the current release
 	VersionMinor = 7         // Minor version component of the current release
-	VersionPatch = 20        // Patch version component of the current release
+	VersionPatch = 21        // Patch version component of the current release
 	VersionMeta  = "mainnet" // Version metadata to append to the version string
 )