diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -1435,7 +1435,7 @@
 
     // also see: InitParameterInteraction()
 
-    if (!fs::is_directory(GetBlocksDir(false))) {
+    if (!fs::is_directory(GetBlocksDir())) {
         return InitError(
             strprintf(_("Specified blocks directory \"%s\" does not exist.\n"),
                       gArgs.GetArg("-blocksdir", "").c_str()));
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@
 
 bool TryCreateDirectories(const fs::path &p);
 fs::path GetDefaultDataDir();
-const fs::path &GetBlocksDir(bool fNetSpecific = true);
+// The blocks directory is always net specific.
+const fs::path &GetBlocksDir();
 const fs::path &GetDataDir(bool fNetSpecific = true);
 void ClearDatadirCache();
 fs::path GetConfigFile(const std::string &confPath);
diff --git a/src/util.cpp b/src/util.cpp
--- a/src/util.cpp
+++ b/src/util.cpp
@@ -742,18 +742,16 @@
 #endif
 }
 
-static fs::path g_blocks_path_cached;
 static fs::path g_blocks_path_cache_net_specific;
 static fs::path pathCached;
 static fs::path pathCachedNetSpecific;
 static CCriticalSection csPathCached;
 
-const fs::path &GetBlocksDir(bool fNetSpecific) {
+const fs::path &GetBlocksDir() {
 
     LOCK(csPathCached);
 
-    fs::path &path =
-        fNetSpecific ? g_blocks_path_cache_net_specific : g_blocks_path_cached;
+    fs::path &path = g_blocks_path_cache_net_specific;
 
     // This can be called during exceptions by LogPrintf(), so we cache the
     // value so we don't have to do memory allocations after that.
@@ -770,10 +768,8 @@
     } else {
         path = GetDataDir(false);
     }
-    if (fNetSpecific) {
-        path /= BaseParams().DataDir();
-    }
 
+    path /= BaseParams().DataDir();
     path /= "blocks";
     fs::create_directories(path);
     return path;
@@ -823,7 +819,6 @@
 
     pathCached = fs::path();
     pathCachedNetSpecific = fs::path();
-    g_blocks_path_cached = fs::path();
     g_blocks_path_cache_net_specific = fs::path();
 }
 
diff --git a/test/functional/feature_blocksdir.py b/test/functional/feature_blocksdir.py
--- a/test/functional/feature_blocksdir.py
+++ b/test/functional/feature_blocksdir.py
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@
 
     def run_test(self):
         self.stop_node(0)
+        assert os.path.isdir(os.path.join(
+            self.nodes[0].datadir, "regtest", "blocks"))
+        assert not os.path.isdir(os.path.join(self.nodes[0].datadir, "blocks"))
         shutil.rmtree(self.nodes[0].datadir)
         initialize_datadir(self.options.tmpdir, 0)
         self.log.info("Starting with nonexistent blocksdir ...")