diff --git a/x/staking/CHANGELOG.md b/x/staking/CHANGELOG.md
index a9280795ded6..f22c5e4fa844 100644
--- a/x/staking/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/x/staking/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 
 ### Improvements
 
+* [#19779](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/19779) Allows for setting `unbonding_time` to zero.
+
 * [#19277](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/19277) Hooks calls on `SetUnbondingDelegationEntry`, `SetRedelegationEntry`, `Slash` and `RemoveValidator` returns errors instead of logging just like other hooks calls.
 * [#18636](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/18636) `IterateBondedValidatorsByPower`, `GetDelegatorBonded`, `Delegate`, `Unbond`, `Slash`, `Jail`, `SlashRedelegation`, `ApplyAndReturnValidatorSetUpdates` methods no longer panics on any kind of errors but instead returns appropriate errors.
 * [#18506](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/18506) Detect the length of the ed25519 pubkey in CreateValidator to prevent panic.
diff --git a/x/staking/keeper/msg_server_test.go b/x/staking/keeper/msg_server_test.go
index b13bbca6d40e..f4719364f619 100644
--- a/x/staking/keeper/msg_server_test.go
+++ b/x/staking/keeper/msg_server_test.go
@@ -1170,7 +1170,7 @@ func (s *KeeperTestSuite) TestMsgUpdateParams() {
 					BondDenom:         "denom",
 				},
 			},
-			expErrMsg: "unbonding time must be positive",
+			expErrMsg: "unbonding time must not be negative",
 		},
 	}
 
diff --git a/x/staking/types/params.go b/x/staking/types/params.go
index ac8b8a32e153..3db7b75d1ce3 100644
--- a/x/staking/types/params.go
+++ b/x/staking/types/params.go
@@ -128,8 +128,8 @@ func validateUnbondingTime(i interface{}) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid parameter type: %T", i)
 	}
 
-	if v <= 0 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("unbonding time must be positive: %d", v)
+	if v < 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unbonding time must not be negative: %d", v)
 	}
 
 	return nil