diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index 5944faf5..b3434d32 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "0.2.0-alpha.53"
+  ".": "0.2.0-alpha.54"
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fcd87ff9..e64ea3dc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,14 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## 0.2.0-alpha.54 (2025-04-15)
+
+Full Changelog: [v0.2.0-alpha.53...v0.2.0-alpha.54](https://github.com/openlayer-ai/openlayer-python/compare/v0.2.0-alpha.53...v0.2.0-alpha.54)
+
+### Features
+
+* fix: default value for OPENLAYER_VERIFY_SSL env var ([a4557de](https://github.com/openlayer-ai/openlayer-python/commit/a4557dec1751a34b2894c605dfd0a54787157923))
+
 ## 0.2.0-alpha.53 (2025-04-15)
 
 Full Changelog: [v0.2.0-alpha.52...v0.2.0-alpha.53](https://github.com/openlayer-ai/openlayer-python/compare/v0.2.0-alpha.52...v0.2.0-alpha.53)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 21275674..b0c5b338 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "openlayer"
-version = "0.2.0-alpha.53"
+version = "0.2.0-alpha.54"
 description = "The official Python library for the openlayer API"
 dynamic = ["readme"]
 license = "Apache-2.0"
diff --git a/src/openlayer/_version.py b/src/openlayer/_version.py
index c52bf153..a07de584 100644
--- a/src/openlayer/_version.py
+++ b/src/openlayer/_version.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # File generated from our OpenAPI spec by Stainless. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
 
 __title__ = "openlayer"
-__version__ = "0.2.0-alpha.53"  # x-release-please-version
+__version__ = "0.2.0-alpha.54"  # x-release-please-version
diff --git a/src/openlayer/lib/tracing/tracer.py b/src/openlayer/lib/tracing/tracer.py
index aedd9d3d..39cb6a25 100644
--- a/src/openlayer/lib/tracing/tracer.py
+++ b/src/openlayer/lib/tracing/tracer.py
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@
 
 _publish = utils.get_env_variable("OPENLAYER_DISABLE_PUBLISH") not in TRUE_LIST
 _verify_ssl = (
-    utils.get_env_variable("OPENLAYER_VERIFY_SSL", "true").lower() in TRUE_LIST
-)
+    utils.get_env_variable("OPENLAYER_VERIFY_SSL") or "true"
+).lower() in TRUE_LIST
 _client = None
 if _publish:
     if _verify_ssl: