diff --git a/client/cmd.go b/client/cmd.go
index 6d5435d2c3c0..8ff09a8f13ac 100644
--- a/client/cmd.go
+++ b/client/cmd.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package client
 
 import (
+	"crypto/tls"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -8,6 +9,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/cli"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc/credentials"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc/credentials/insecure"
 
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/flags"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/crypto/keyring"
@@ -147,6 +151,28 @@ func ReadPersistentCommandFlags(clientCtx Context, flagSet *pflag.FlagSet) (Cont
 		}
 	}
 
+	if clientCtx.GRPCClient == nil || flagSet.Changed(flags.FlagGRPC) {
+		grpcURI, _ := flagSet.GetString(flags.FlagGRPC)
+		if grpcURI != "" {
+			var dialOpts []grpc.DialOption
+
+			useInsecure, _ := flagSet.GetBool(flags.FlagGRPCInsecure)
+			if useInsecure {
+				dialOpts = append(dialOpts, grpc.WithTransportCredentials(insecure.NewCredentials()))
+			} else {
+				dialOpts = append(dialOpts, grpc.WithTransportCredentials(credentials.NewTLS(&tls.Config{
+					MinVersion: tls.VersionTLS12,
+				})))
+			}
+
+			grpcClient, err := grpc.Dial(grpcURI, dialOpts...)
+			if err != nil {
+				return Context{}, err
+			}
+			clientCtx = clientCtx.WithGRPCClient(grpcClient)
+		}
+	}
+
 	return clientCtx, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/client/flags/flags.go b/client/flags/flags.go
index 80e1eab8ea43..daa40e85b97e 100644
--- a/client/flags/flags.go
+++ b/client/flags/flags.go
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ const (
 	FlagUseLedger        = "ledger"
 	FlagChainID          = "chain-id"
 	FlagNode             = "node"
+	FlagGRPC             = "grpc"
+	FlagGRPCInsecure     = "grpc-insecure"
 	FlagHeight           = "height"
 	FlagGasAdjustment    = "gas-adjustment"
 	FlagFrom             = "from"
@@ -92,6 +94,8 @@ var LineBreak = &cobra.Command{Run: func(*cobra.Command, []string) {}}
 // AddQueryFlagsToCmd adds common flags to a module query command.
 func AddQueryFlagsToCmd(cmd *cobra.Command) {
 	cmd.Flags().String(FlagNode, "tcp://localhost:26657", "<host>:<port> to Tendermint RPC interface for this chain")
+	cmd.Flags().String(FlagGRPC, "", "the gRPC endpoint to use for this chain")
+	cmd.Flags().Bool(FlagGRPCInsecure, false, "allow gRPC over insecure channels, if not TLS the server must use TLS")
 	cmd.Flags().Int64(FlagHeight, 0, "Use a specific height to query state at (this can error if the node is pruning state)")
 	cmd.Flags().StringP(FlagOutput, "o", "text", "Output format (text|json)")