diff --git a/collections/CHANGELOG.md b/collections/CHANGELOG.md
index 291ec0b9a478..a4cad80a54b5 100644
--- a/collections/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/collections/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 
 * [#17024](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/17024) - Introduces `Triple`, a composite key with three keys.
 
+### API Breaking
+
+* [#17290](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/17290) - Collections iteration methods (Iterate, Walk) will not error when the collection is empty.
+
 ### Improvements
 
 * [#17021](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/17021) Make collections implement the `appmodule.HasGenesis` interface.
diff --git a/collections/genesis.go b/collections/genesis.go
index c2db579b1126..0c593e4adfd8 100644
--- a/collections/genesis.go
+++ b/collections/genesis.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package collections
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 )
@@ -40,13 +39,6 @@ func (m Map[K, V]) exportGenesis(ctx context.Context, writer io.Writer) error {
 
 	it, err := m.Iterate(ctx, nil)
 	if err != nil {
-		// if the iterator is invalid, the state can be empty
-		// and we can just return an empty array.
-		if errors.Is(err, ErrInvalidIterator) {
-			_, err = io.WriteString(writer, "]")
-			return err
-		}
-
 		return err
 	}
 	defer it.Close()
diff --git a/collections/indexes/reverse_pair_test.go b/collections/indexes/reverse_pair_test.go
index 564b273fa284..da1c1c961166 100644
--- a/collections/indexes/reverse_pair_test.go
+++ b/collections/indexes/reverse_pair_test.go
@@ -64,8 +64,12 @@ func TestReversePair(t *testing.T) {
 	// assert if we remove address1 atom balance, we can no longer find it in the index
 	err = indexedMap.Remove(ctx, collections.Join("address1", "atom"))
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	_, err = indexedMap.Indexes.Denom.MatchExact(ctx, "atom")
-	require.ErrorIs(t, collections.ErrInvalidIterator, err)
+	iter, err = indexedMap.Indexes.Denom.MatchExact(ctx, "atom")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer iter.Close()
+	pks, err = iter.PrimaryKeys()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Empty(t, pks)
 }
 
 func TestUncheckedReversePair(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/collections/iter.go b/collections/iter.go
index 527e15a92871..06f2a9f96029 100644
--- a/collections/iter.go
+++ b/collections/iter.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package collections
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
@@ -161,6 +162,9 @@ func parseRangeInstruction[K any](prefix []byte, keyCodec codec.KeyCodec[K], r R
 	} else {
 		endBytes = nextBytesPrefixKey(prefix)
 	}
+	if bytes.Compare(startBytes, endBytes) == 1 {
+		return nil, nil, 0, ErrInvalidIterator
+	}
 	return startBytes, endBytes, order, nil
 }
 
@@ -191,9 +195,6 @@ func newIterator[K, V any](ctx context.Context, start, end []byte, order Order,
 	if err != nil {
 		return Iterator[K, V]{}, err
 	}
-	if !iter.Valid() {
-		return Iterator[K, V]{}, ErrInvalidIterator
-	}
 
 	return Iterator[K, V]{
 		kc:           m.kc,
diff --git a/collections/map.go b/collections/map.go
index 2a7bb36a0f3a..810b5a06f809 100644
--- a/collections/map.go
+++ b/collections/map.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package collections
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 
@@ -149,8 +150,7 @@ func (m Map[K, V]) Walk(ctx context.Context, ranger Ranger[K], walkFunc func(key
 }
 
 // Clear clears the collection contained within the provided key range.
-// A nil ranger equals to clearing the whole collection. In case the collection
-// is empty no error will be returned.
+// A nil ranger equals to clearing the whole collection.
 // NOTE: this API needs to be used with care, considering that as of today
 // cosmos-sdk stores the deletion records to be committed in a memory cache,
 // clearing a lot of data might make the node go OOM.
@@ -216,6 +216,10 @@ func (m Map[K, V]) IterateRaw(ctx context.Context, start, end []byte, order Orde
 		prefixedEnd = append(m.prefix, end...)
 	}
 
+	if bytes.Compare(prefixedStart, prefixedEnd) == 1 {
+		return Iterator[K, V]{}, ErrInvalidIterator
+	}
+
 	s := m.sa(ctx)
 	var (
 		storeIter store.Iterator
@@ -233,9 +237,6 @@ func (m Map[K, V]) IterateRaw(ctx context.Context, start, end []byte, order Orde
 		return Iterator[K, V]{}, err
 	}
 
-	if !storeIter.Valid() {
-		return Iterator[K, V]{}, ErrInvalidIterator
-	}
 	return Iterator[K, V]{
 		kc:           m.kc,
 		vc:           m.vc,
diff --git a/collections/map_test.go b/collections/map_test.go
index a011083a42ed..f95935c5720e 100644
--- a/collections/map_test.go
+++ b/collections/map_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package collections
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -51,8 +52,10 @@ func TestMap_Clear(t *testing.T) {
 		ctx, m := makeTest()
 		err := m.Clear(ctx, nil)
 		require.NoError(t, err)
-		_, err = m.Iterate(ctx, nil)
-		require.ErrorIs(t, err, ErrInvalidIterator)
+		err = m.Walk(ctx, nil, func(key, value uint64) (bool, error) {
+			return false, fmt.Errorf("should never be called")
+		})
+		require.NoError(t, err)
 	})
 
 	t.Run("custom ranger", func(t *testing.T) {
@@ -104,6 +107,15 @@ func TestMap_IterateRaw(t *testing.T) {
 	keys, err = iter.Keys()
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.Equal(t, []uint64{2, 1, 0}, keys)
+
+	// test invalid iter
+	_, err = m.IterateRaw(ctx, []byte{0x2, 0x0}, []byte{0x0, 0x0}, OrderAscending)
+	require.ErrorIs(t, err, ErrInvalidIterator)
+
+	// test on empty collection iterating does not error
+	require.NoError(t, m.Clear(ctx, nil))
+	_, err = m.IterateRaw(ctx, nil, nil, OrderAscending)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
 }
 
 func Test_encodeKey(t *testing.T) {