diff --git a/src/main/java/org/qortal/arbitrary/metadata/ArbitraryDataTransactionMetadata.java b/src/main/java/org/qortal/arbitrary/metadata/ArbitraryDataTransactionMetadata.java
index d07d098a..e92f6828 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/qortal/arbitrary/metadata/ArbitraryDataTransactionMetadata.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/qortal/arbitrary/metadata/ArbitraryDataTransactionMetadata.java
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ public class ArbitraryDataTransactionMetadata extends ArbitraryDataMetadata {
             this.tags = metadata.getString("tags");
         }
         if (metadata.has("category")) {
-            this.category = Category.valueOf(metadata.getString("category"));
+            this.category = Category.uncategorizedValueOf(metadata.getString("category"));
         }
 
         List<byte[]> chunksList = new ArrayList<>();
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/qortal/arbitrary/misc/Category.java b/src/main/java/org/qortal/arbitrary/misc/Category.java
index 395e0ef2..d56e3d5d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/qortal/arbitrary/misc/Category.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/qortal/arbitrary/misc/Category.java
@@ -64,4 +64,18 @@ public enum Category {
         return this.name;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Same as valueOf() but with fallback to UNCATEGORIZED if there's no match
+     * @param name
+     * @return a Category (using UNCATEGORIZED if no match found)
+     */
+    public static Category uncategorizedValueOf(String name) {
+        try {
+            return Category.valueOf(name);
+        }
+        catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            return Category.UNCATEGORIZED;
+        }
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/qortal/test/arbitrary/ArbitraryTransactionMetadataTests.java b/src/test/java/org/qortal/test/arbitrary/ArbitraryTransactionMetadataTests.java
index a07cfbb6..79ac499a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/qortal/test/arbitrary/ArbitraryTransactionMetadataTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/qortal/test/arbitrary/ArbitraryTransactionMetadataTests.java
@@ -164,4 +164,18 @@ public class ArbitraryTransactionMetadataTests extends Common {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testExistingCategories() {
+        // Matching categories should be correctly located
+        assertEquals(Category.QORTAL, Category.uncategorizedValueOf("QORTAL"));
+        assertEquals(Category.TECHNOLOGY, Category.uncategorizedValueOf("TECHNOLOGY"));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMissingCategory() {
+        // Missing or invalid categories should fall back to UNCATEGORIZED
+        assertEquals(Category.UNCATEGORIZED, Category.uncategorizedValueOf("INVALID_CATEGORY"));
+        assertEquals(Category.UNCATEGORIZED, Category.uncategorizedValueOf("Qortal")); // Case-sensitive match required
+    }
+
 }