diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 959206ff52..be61fab128 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ replace github.com/ipfs/go-verifcid => github.com/celestiaorg/go-verifcid v0.0.1
 
 require (
 	github.com/BurntSushi/toml v1.0.0
-	github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app v0.0.2-0.20220207122156-63519eccc053
+	github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app v0.0.2-0.20220214170311-cfe3ecf30837
 	github.com/celestiaorg/go-libp2p-messenger v0.1.0
 	github.com/celestiaorg/nmt v0.8.0
 	github.com/celestiaorg/rsmt2d v0.3.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 7cc3d062f6..08cf5a5b47 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -177,6 +177,8 @@ github.com/buger/jsonparser v0.0.0-20181115193947-bf1c66bbce23/go.mod h1:bbYlZJ7
 github.com/casbin/casbin/v2 v2.1.2/go.mod h1:YcPU1XXisHhLzuxH9coDNf2FbKpjGlbCg3n9yuLkIJQ=
 github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app v0.0.2-0.20220207122156-63519eccc053 h1:09Nsr3WykIE4zBBpGVAFx+s642+kRocsqbCx7sK/CjA=
 github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app v0.0.2-0.20220207122156-63519eccc053/go.mod h1:rOXjz9htUTu2ihWG8o96uXZzQavfpnZxuVfdzYfx7L4=
+github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app v0.0.2-0.20220214170311-cfe3ecf30837 h1:Gh30XfMaxAz3IsswEP7XBqcRGE9s1NOlfG/BfghgWok=
+github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app v0.0.2-0.20220214170311-cfe3ecf30837/go.mod h1:rOXjz9htUTu2ihWG8o96uXZzQavfpnZxuVfdzYfx7L4=
 github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-core v0.34.14-celestia.0.20220119223021-e54097114e14 h1:PiiLrn/eNV++ByjxRo6o8M62aNvVc786AL4Bl3vCpd0=
 github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-core v0.34.14-celestia.0.20220119223021-e54097114e14/go.mod h1:3n9kP3esPVYeAXMW/QSLALhMtraZInoTD5rcjteFpVQ=
 github.com/celestiaorg/cosmos-sdk v0.44.1-celestia h1:WbNV1I4L7oudA38lZ+7ILnWElfDIbdZdNp3jHBvIXgU=
diff --git a/service/state/core_access_test.go b/service/state/core_access_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bf761fe5f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/service/state/core_access_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+package state
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app/app"
+	apptypes "github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app/x/payment/types"
+	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/core"
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/crypto/hd"
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/crypto/keyring"
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/testutil"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"github.com/tendermint/spm/cosmoscmd"
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+
+	apputil "github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app/testutil"
+)
+
+func TestCoreAccess(t *testing.T) {
+	// create signer + acct
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	ring, err := keyring.New("celestia", "test", dir, os.Stdin)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	acc, err := ring.NewAccount("something", testutil.TestMnemonic, "", "", hd.Secp256k1)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	signer := apptypes.NewKeyringSigner(ring, acc.GetName(), "test")
+	// make encoding config
+	encCfg := cosmoscmd.MakeEncodingConfig(app.ModuleBasics)
+
+	// create app and start core node
+	celapp := apputil.SetupTestApp(t, acc.GetAddress())
+	nd := core.StartMockNode(celapp)
+	defer nd.Stop() //nolint:errcheck
+	_, ip := core.GetRemoteEndpoint(nd)
+	grpcEndpoint := fmt.Sprintf("%s:9090", ip)
+
+	// create CoreAccess with the grpc endpoint to mock core node
+	ca, err := NewCoreAccessor(signer, encCfg, grpcEndpoint)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	bal, err := ca.Balance(context.Background())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	t.Log("BAL: ", bal)
+}
+