diff --git a/common/board_r.c b/common/board_r.c
index 8a0c1114e77ac2ed644f2324cbaaa0c7cf5cae72..4f56c19fcc977432d0cf2dcba37ada488569b7c9 100644
--- a/common/board_r.c
+++ b/common/board_r.c
@@ -864,6 +864,9 @@ static init_fnc_t init_sequence_r[] = {
 #endif
 #if defined(CONFIG_PRAM)
 	initr_mem,
+#endif
+#ifdef CONFIG_BLOCK_CACHE
+	blkcache_init,
 #endif
 	run_main_loop,
 };
diff --git a/drivers/block/blkcache.c b/drivers/block/blkcache.c
index 1fa64989d3f2fcc5c9e0b3e6991f72b1fc5d96d5..f603aa129d4699351c243c2aa38d9aae80bbda58 100644
--- a/drivers/block/blkcache.c
+++ b/drivers/block/blkcache.c
@@ -21,13 +21,20 @@ struct block_cache_node {
 	char *cache;
 };
 
-static LIST_HEAD(block_cache);
+static struct list_head block_cache;
 
 static struct block_cache_stats _stats = {
 	.max_blocks_per_entry = 8,
 	.max_entries = 32
 };
 
+int blkcache_init(void)
+{
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&block_cache);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static struct block_cache_node *cache_find(int iftype, int devnum,
 					   lbaint_t start, lbaint_t blkcnt,
 					   unsigned long blksz)
diff --git a/include/blk.h b/include/blk.h
index d0c033aece0fb7986a614cef5a9176dc6bca2f44..65db69f5d9eb771d6c91709da27ba3b24e2afb3e 100644
--- a/include/blk.h
+++ b/include/blk.h
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ struct blk_desc {
 	(PAD_SIZE(size, blk_desc->blksz))
 
 #if CONFIG_IS_ENABLED(BLOCK_CACHE)
+
+/**
+ * blkcache_init() - initialize the block cache list pointers
+ */
+int blkcache_init(void);
+
 /**
  * blkcache_read() - attempt to read a set of blocks from cache
  *