diff --git a/config/toml.go b/config/toml.go
index 305e98d13..13f71db86 100644
--- a/config/toml.go
+++ b/config/toml.go
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ seed_mode = {{ .P2P.SeedMode }}
 auth_enc = {{ .P2P.AuthEnc }}
 
 # Comma separated list of peer IDs to keep private (will not be gossiped to other peers)
-private_peer_ids = {{ .P2P.PrivatePeerIDs }}
+private_peer_ids = "{{ .P2P.PrivatePeerIDs }}"
 
 ##### mempool configuration options #####
 [mempool]