diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7e4b82b50c37..6579ea3c70a6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 
 ### CLI Breaking Changes
 
+* [\#9827](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/9827) Ensure input parity of validator public key input between `tx staking create-validator` and `gentx`.
 * [\#9246](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/9246) Removed the CLI flag `--setup-config-only` from the `testnet` command and added the subcommand `init-files`.
 * [\#9371](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/9371) Non-zero default fees/Server will error if there's an empty value for min-gas-price in app.toml
 
diff --git a/x/genutil/client/cli/gentx.go b/x/genutil/client/cli/gentx.go
index db00129a0733..e8d736b2485d 100644
--- a/x/genutil/client/cli/gentx.go
+++ b/x/genutil/client/cli/gentx.go
@@ -77,10 +77,9 @@ $ %s gentx my-key-name 1000000stake --home=/path/to/home/dir --keyring-backend=o
 			}
 
 			// read --pubkey, if empty take it from priv_validator.json
-			if val, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString(cli.FlagPubKey); val != "" {
-				err = clientCtx.Codec.UnmarshalJSON([]byte(val), valPubKey)
-				if err != nil {
-					return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to unmarshal consensus node public key")
+			if pkStr, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString(cli.FlagPubKey); pkStr != "" {
+				if err := clientCtx.Codec.UnmarshalInterfaceJSON([]byte(pkStr), &valPubKey); err != nil {
+					return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to unmarshal validator public key")
 				}
 			}
 
diff --git a/x/genutil/client/cli/init_test.go b/x/genutil/client/cli/init_test.go
index fd8427988edf..b51f528bf94f 100644
--- a/x/genutil/client/cli/init_test.go
+++ b/x/genutil/client/cli/init_test.go
@@ -46,8 +46,7 @@ func TestInitCmd(t *testing.T) {
 				}
 			},
 			shouldErr: false,
-
-			err: nil,
+			err:       nil,
 		},
 	}
 
diff --git a/x/genutil/client/testutil/suite.go b/x/genutil/client/testutil/suite.go
index 3a624f28eb38..41aeed9444f8 100644
--- a/x/genutil/client/testutil/suite.go
+++ b/x/genutil/client/testutil/suite.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import (
 	sdk "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/types"
 	banktypes "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/bank/types"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/genutil/client/cli"
+	stakingcli "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/staking/client/cli"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/staking/types"
 )
 
@@ -89,6 +90,44 @@ func (s *IntegrationTestSuite) TestGenTxCmd() {
 	s.Require().Equal(sdk.MsgTypeURL(&types.MsgCreateValidator{}), sdk.MsgTypeURL(msgs[0]))
 	s.Require().Equal([]string{val.Address.String()}, msgs[0].GetSigners())
 	s.Require().Equal(amount, msgs[0].(*types.MsgCreateValidator).Value)
-	err = tx.ValidateBasic()
-	s.Require().NoError(err)
+	s.Require().NoError(tx.ValidateBasic())
+}
+
+func (s *IntegrationTestSuite) TestGenTxCmdPubkey() {
+	val := s.network.Validators[0]
+	dir := s.T().TempDir()
+
+	cmd := cli.GenTxCmd(
+		simapp.ModuleBasics,
+		val.ClientCtx.TxConfig,
+		banktypes.GenesisBalancesIterator{},
+		val.ClientCtx.HomeDir,
+	)
+
+	_, out := testutil.ApplyMockIO(cmd)
+	clientCtx := val.ClientCtx.WithOutput(out)
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, client.ClientContextKey, &clientCtx)
+
+	amount := sdk.NewCoin(s.cfg.BondDenom, sdk.NewInt(12))
+	genTxFile := filepath.Join(dir, "myTx")
+
+	cmd.SetArgs([]string{
+		fmt.Sprintf("--%s=%s", flags.FlagChainID, s.network.Config.ChainID),
+		fmt.Sprintf("--%s=%s", flags.FlagOutputDocument, genTxFile),
+		fmt.Sprintf("--%s={\"key\":\"BOIkjkFruMpfOFC9oNPhiJGfmY2pHF/gwHdLDLnrnS0=\"}", stakingcli.FlagPubKey),
+		val.Moniker,
+		amount.String(),
+	})
+	s.Require().Error(cmd.ExecuteContext(ctx))
+
+	cmd.SetArgs([]string{
+		fmt.Sprintf("--%s=%s", flags.FlagChainID, s.network.Config.ChainID),
+		fmt.Sprintf("--%s=%s", flags.FlagOutputDocument, genTxFile),
+		fmt.Sprintf("--%s={\"@type\":\"/cosmos.crypto.ed25519.PubKey\",\"key\":\"BOIkjkFruMpfOFC9oNPhiJGfmY2pHF/gwHdLDLnrnS0=\"}", stakingcli.FlagPubKey),
+		val.Moniker,
+		amount.String(),
+	})
+	s.Require().NoError(cmd.ExecuteContext(ctx))
 }
diff --git a/x/staking/client/cli/flags.go b/x/staking/client/cli/flags.go
index 094de343df90..d6725e8c1da4 100644
--- a/x/staking/client/cli/flags.go
+++ b/x/staking/client/cli/flags.go
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ func FlagSetAmount() *flag.FlagSet {
 // FlagSetPublicKey Returns the flagset for Public Key related operations.
 func FlagSetPublicKey() *flag.FlagSet {
 	fs := flag.NewFlagSet("", flag.ContinueOnError)
-	fs.String(FlagPubKey, "", "The Bech32 encoded PubKey of the validator")
+	fs.String(FlagPubKey, "", "The validator's Protobuf JSON encoded public key")
 	return fs
 }