diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index dde8d8e5a977..f9f2deaef376 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 
 * (x/auth) [#16554](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/16554) `ModuleAccount.Validate` now reports a nil `.BaseAccount` instead of panicking.
 * [#16588](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/16588) Propogate the Snapshotter's failure to the caller, (it will create a empty snapshot silently before).
+* (types) [#15433](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/15433) Allow disabling of account address caches (for printing bech32 account addresses).
 
 ## [v0.46.13](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/releases/tag/v0.46.13) - 2023-06-08
 
diff --git a/types/address.go b/types/address.go
index 2212e1e23545..08af3ec4655b 100644
--- a/types/address.go
+++ b/types/address.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/golang-lru/simplelru"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/yaml"
@@ -83,6 +84,8 @@ var (
 	consAddrCache *simplelru.LRU
 	valAddrMu     sync.Mutex
 	valAddrCache  *simplelru.LRU
+
+	isCachingEnabled atomic.Bool
 )
 
 // sentinel errors
@@ -92,6 +95,8 @@ var (
 
 func init() {
 	var err error
+	SetAddrCacheEnabled(true)
+
 	// in total the cache size is 61k entries. Key is 32 bytes and value is around 50-70 bytes.
 	// That will make around 92 * 61k * 2 (LRU) bytes ~ 11 MB
 	if accAddrCache, err = simplelru.NewLRU(60000, nil); err != nil {
@@ -105,6 +110,16 @@ func init() {
 	}
 }
 
+// SetAddrCacheEnabled enables or disables accAddrCache, consAddrCache, and valAddrCache. By default, caches are enabled.
+func SetAddrCacheEnabled(enabled bool) {
+	isCachingEnabled.Store(enabled)
+}
+
+// IsAddrCacheEnabled returns if the address caches are enabled.
+func IsAddrCacheEnabled() bool {
+	return isCachingEnabled.Load()
+}
+
 // Address is a common interface for different types of addresses used by the SDK
 type Address interface {
 	Equals(Address) bool
@@ -285,11 +300,15 @@ func (aa AccAddress) String() string {
 	}
 
 	key := conv.UnsafeBytesToStr(aa)
-	accAddrMu.Lock()
-	defer accAddrMu.Unlock()
-	addr, ok := accAddrCache.Get(key)
-	if ok {
-		return addr.(string)
+
+	if IsAddrCacheEnabled() {
+		accAddrMu.Lock()
+		defer accAddrMu.Unlock()
+
+		addr, ok := accAddrCache.Get(key)
+		if ok {
+			return addr.(string)
+		}
 	}
 	return cacheBech32Addr(GetConfig().GetBech32AccountAddrPrefix(), aa, accAddrCache, key)
 }
@@ -435,11 +454,15 @@ func (va ValAddress) String() string {
 	}
 
 	key := conv.UnsafeBytesToStr(va)
-	valAddrMu.Lock()
-	defer valAddrMu.Unlock()
-	addr, ok := valAddrCache.Get(key)
-	if ok {
-		return addr.(string)
+
+	if IsAddrCacheEnabled() {
+		valAddrMu.Lock()
+		defer valAddrMu.Unlock()
+
+		addr, ok := valAddrCache.Get(key)
+		if ok {
+			return addr.(string)
+		}
 	}
 	return cacheBech32Addr(GetConfig().GetBech32ValidatorAddrPrefix(), va, valAddrCache, key)
 }
@@ -590,11 +613,15 @@ func (ca ConsAddress) String() string {
 	}
 
 	key := conv.UnsafeBytesToStr(ca)
-	consAddrMu.Lock()
-	defer consAddrMu.Unlock()
-	addr, ok := consAddrCache.Get(key)
-	if ok {
-		return addr.(string)
+
+	if IsAddrCacheEnabled() {
+		consAddrMu.Lock()
+		defer consAddrMu.Unlock()
+
+		addr, ok := consAddrCache.Get(key)
+		if ok {
+			return addr.(string)
+		}
 	}
 	return cacheBech32Addr(GetConfig().GetBech32ConsensusAddrPrefix(), ca, consAddrCache, key)
 }
@@ -674,6 +701,8 @@ func cacheBech32Addr(prefix string, addr []byte, cache *simplelru.LRU, cacheKey
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
-	cache.Add(cacheKey, bech32Addr)
+	if IsAddrCacheEnabled() {
+		cache.Add(cacheKey, bech32Addr)
+	}
 	return bech32Addr
 }
diff --git a/types/address_test.go b/types/address_test.go
index 18bb929c61fa..06a23a14d21c 100644
--- a/types/address_test.go
+++ b/types/address_test.go
@@ -125,6 +125,77 @@ func (s *addressTestSuite) TestRandBech32AccAddrConsistency() {
 	s.Require().Equal(types.ErrEmptyHexAddress, err)
 }
 
+// Test that the account address cache ignores the bech32 prefix setting, retrieving bech32 addresses from the cache.
+// This will cause the AccAddress.String() to print out unexpected prefixes if the config was changed between bech32 lookups.
+// See https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/15317.
+func (s *addressTestSuite) TestAddrCache() {
+	// Use a random key
+	pubBz := make([]byte, ed25519.PubKeySize)
+	pub := &ed25519.PubKey{Key: pubBz}
+	rand.Read(pub.Key)
+
+	// Set SDK bech32 prefixes to 'osmo'
+	prefix := "osmo"
+	conf := types.GetConfig()
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForAccount(prefix, prefix+"pub")
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForValidator(prefix+"valoper", prefix+"valoperpub")
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForConsensusNode(prefix+"valcons", prefix+"valconspub")
+
+	acc := types.AccAddress(pub.Address())
+	osmoAddrBech32 := acc.String()
+
+	// Set SDK bech32 to 'cosmos'
+	prefix = "cosmos"
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForAccount(prefix, prefix+"pub")
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForValidator(prefix+"valoper", prefix+"valoperpub")
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForConsensusNode(prefix+"valcons", prefix+"valconspub")
+
+	// We name this 'addrCosmos' to prove a point, but the bech32 address will still begin with 'osmo' due to the cache behavior.
+	addrCosmos := types.AccAddress(pub.Address())
+	cosmosAddrBech32 := addrCosmos.String()
+
+	// The default behavior will retrieve the bech32 address from the cache, ignoring the bech32 prefix change.
+	s.Require().Equal(osmoAddrBech32, cosmosAddrBech32)
+	s.Require().True(strings.HasPrefix(osmoAddrBech32, "osmo"))
+	s.Require().True(strings.HasPrefix(cosmosAddrBech32, "osmo"))
+}
+
+// Test that the bech32 prefix is respected when the address cache is disabled.
+// This causes AccAddress.String() to print out the expected prefixes if the config is changed between bech32 lookups.
+// See https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/15317.
+func (s *addressTestSuite) TestAddrCacheDisabled() {
+	types.SetAddrCacheEnabled(false)
+
+	// Use a random key
+	pubBz := make([]byte, ed25519.PubKeySize)
+	pub := &ed25519.PubKey{Key: pubBz}
+	rand.Read(pub.Key)
+
+	// Set SDK bech32 prefixes to 'osmo'
+	prefix := "osmo"
+	conf := types.GetConfig()
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForAccount(prefix, prefix+"pub")
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForValidator(prefix+"valoper", prefix+"valoperpub")
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForConsensusNode(prefix+"valcons", prefix+"valconspub")
+
+	acc := types.AccAddress(pub.Address())
+	osmoAddrBech32 := acc.String()
+
+	// Set SDK bech32 to 'cosmos'
+	prefix = "cosmos"
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForAccount(prefix, prefix+"pub")
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForValidator(prefix+"valoper", prefix+"valoperpub")
+	conf.SetBech32PrefixForConsensusNode(prefix+"valcons", prefix+"valconspub")
+
+	addrCosmos := types.AccAddress(pub.Address())
+	cosmosAddrBech32 := addrCosmos.String()
+
+	// retrieve the bech32 address from the cache, respecting the bech32 prefix change.
+	s.Require().NotEqual(osmoAddrBech32, cosmosAddrBech32)
+	s.Require().True(strings.HasPrefix(osmoAddrBech32, "osmo"))
+	s.Require().True(strings.HasPrefix(cosmosAddrBech32, "cosmos"))
+}
+
 func (s *addressTestSuite) TestValAddr() {
 	pubBz := make([]byte, ed25519.PubKeySize)
 	pub := &ed25519.PubKey{Key: pubBz}