diff --git a/internal/coreconfig/coreconfig.go b/internal/coreconfig/coreconfig.go
index 27d6d853a..3baa0e098 100644
--- a/internal/coreconfig/coreconfig.go
+++ b/internal/coreconfig/coreconfig.go
@@ -312,7 +312,6 @@ func setDefaults() {
 	viper.SetDefault(string(CorsAllowedOrigins), []string{"*"})
 	viper.SetDefault(string(CorsEnabled), true)
 	viper.SetDefault(string(CorsMaxAge), 600)
-	viper.SetDefault(string(DataexchangeType), "ffdx")
 	viper.SetDefault(string(HistogramsMaxChartRows), 100)
 	viper.SetDefault(string(DebugPort), -1)
 	viper.SetDefault(string(DownloadWorkerCount), 10)
diff --git a/internal/orchestrator/orchestrator.go b/internal/orchestrator/orchestrator.go
index aebf317b0..0daa5fc68 100644
--- a/internal/orchestrator/orchestrator.go
+++ b/internal/orchestrator/orchestrator.go
@@ -359,6 +359,10 @@ func (or *orchestrator) initDatabaseCheckPreinit(ctx context.Context) (err error
 
 func (or *orchestrator) initDataExchange(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 	dxPlugin := config.GetString(coreconfig.DataexchangeType)
+	if dxPlugin == "" {
+		dxPlugin = "ffdx"
+		log.L(ctx).Warnf("The default value for %s has been deprecated - please explicitly set it to \"ffdx\"", coreconfig.DataexchangeType)
+	}
 	if or.dataexchange == nil {
 		pluginName := dxPlugin
 		if or.dataexchange, err = dxfactory.GetPlugin(ctx, pluginName); err != nil {