diff --git a/src/ocean/Assets.ts b/src/ocean/Assets.ts
index faafedaa..b882e3f7 100644
--- a/src/ocean/Assets.ts
+++ b/src/ocean/Assets.ts
@@ -67,6 +67,13 @@ export class Assets extends Instantiable {
     name?: string,
     symbol?: string
   ): SubscribablePromise<CreateProgressStep, DDO> {
+    if (!isAddress(dtAddress)) {
+      this.logger.error(
+        `Passed Data Token address ${dtAddress} is not valid. Aborting publishing.`
+      )
+      return null
+    }
+
     this.logger.log('Creating asset')
     return new SubscribablePromise(async (observer) => {
       if (services.length === 0) {
diff --git a/test/integration/Marketplaceflow.test.ts b/test/integration/Marketplaceflow.test.ts
index 06a809f4..42b6664c 100644
--- a/test/integration/Marketplaceflow.test.ts
+++ b/test/integration/Marketplaceflow.test.ts
@@ -222,6 +222,21 @@ describe('Marketplace flow', () => {
     assert.equal(metaData.attributes.additionalInformation.links, newMetaData.links)
   })
 
+  it('Alice publishes a dataset but passed data token is invalid', async () => {
+    price = datatoken.toWei('10') // in datatoken
+    const publishedDate = new Date(Date.now()).toISOString().split('.')[0] + 'Z'
+    const timeout = 0
+    service1 = await ocean.assets.createAccessServiceAttributes(
+      alice,
+      price,
+      publishedDate,
+      timeout
+    )
+
+    ddo = await ocean.assets.create(asset, alice, [service1], 'gibberishDataToken')
+    assert.equal(ddo, null)
+  })
+
   it('Alice publishes a dataset but created data token is invalid', async () => {
     price = datatoken.toWei('10') // in datatoken
     const publishedDate = new Date(Date.now()).toISOString().split('.')[0] + 'Z'