diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index 721ae225ca..953980c5b6 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -879,11 +879,11 @@ bool AppInit2(boost::thread_group& threadGroup, CScheduler& scheduler)
     fCheckBlockIndex = GetBoolArg("-checkblockindex", chainparams.DefaultConsistencyChecks());
     fCheckpointsEnabled = GetBoolArg("-checkpoints", true);
 
-    // -mempoollimit limits
-    int64_t nMempoolSizeLimit = GetArg("-maxmempool", DEFAULT_MAX_MEMPOOL_SIZE) * 1000000;
-    int64_t nMempoolDescendantSizeLimit = GetArg("-limitdescendantsize", DEFAULT_DESCENDANT_SIZE_LIMIT) * 1000;
-    if (nMempoolSizeLimit < 0 || nMempoolSizeLimit < nMempoolDescendantSizeLimit * 40)
-        return InitError(strprintf(_("-maxmempool must be at least %d MB"), GetArg("-limitdescendantsize", DEFAULT_DESCENDANT_SIZE_LIMIT) / 25));
+    // mempool limits
+    int64_t nMempoolSizeMax = GetArg("-maxmempool", DEFAULT_MAX_MEMPOOL_SIZE) * 1000000;
+    int64_t nMempoolSizeMin = GetArg("-limitdescendantsize", DEFAULT_DESCENDANT_SIZE_LIMIT) * 1000 * 40;
+    if (nMempoolSizeMax < 0 || nMempoolSizeMax < nMempoolSizeMin)
+        return InitError(strprintf(_("-maxmempool must be at least %d MB"), std::ceil(nMempoolSizeMin / 1000.0)));
 
     // -par=0 means autodetect, but nScriptCheckThreads==0 means no concurrency
     nScriptCheckThreads = GetArg("-par", DEFAULT_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS);