diff --git a/src/openlayer/lib/tracing/tracer.py b/src/openlayer/lib/tracing/tracer.py
index 4e099416..aedd9d3d 100644
--- a/src/openlayer/lib/tracing/tracer.py
+++ b/src/openlayer/lib/tracing/tracer.py
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@
 TRUE_LIST = ["true", "on", "1"]
 
 _publish = utils.get_env_variable("OPENLAYER_DISABLE_PUBLISH") not in TRUE_LIST
-_verify_ssl = utils.get_env_variable("OPENLAYER_VERIFY_SSL").lower() in TRUE_LIST
+_verify_ssl = (
+    utils.get_env_variable("OPENLAYER_VERIFY_SSL", "true").lower() in TRUE_LIST
+)
 _client = None
 if _publish:
     if _verify_ssl: