diff --git a/tools/blobinspector/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/blobinspector/BlobInspector.kt b/tools/blobinspector/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/blobinspector/BlobInspector.kt
index 8887247bf6..8670989fd1 100644
--- a/tools/blobinspector/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/blobinspector/BlobInspector.kt
+++ b/tools/blobinspector/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/blobinspector/BlobInspector.kt
@@ -52,14 +52,6 @@ class BlobInspector : CordaCliWrapper("blob-inspector", "Convert AMQP serialised
 
     override fun runProgram() = run(System.out)
 
-    override fun initLogging() {
-        if (verbose) {
-            loggingLevel = Level.TRACE
-        }
-        val loggingLevel = loggingLevel.name.toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH)
-        System.setProperty("logLevel", loggingLevel) // This property is referenced from the XML config file.
-    }
-
     fun run(out: PrintStream): Int {
         val inputBytes = source!!.readBytes()
         val bytes = parseToBinaryRelaxed(inputFormatType, inputBytes)
diff --git a/tools/blobinspector/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml b/tools/blobinspector/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
index 98b3648e6b..b7a8bfcd2f 100644
--- a/tools/blobinspector/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
+++ b/tools/blobinspector/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <Configuration status="info">
     <Properties>
-        <Property name="logLevel">off</Property>
+        <Property name="consoleLogLevel">${sys:consoleLogLevel:-error}</Property>
+        <Property name="defaultLogLevel">${sys:defaultLogLevel:-info}</Property>
     </Properties>
     <Appenders>
         <Console name="STDOUT" target="SYSTEM_OUT" ignoreExceptions="false">
@@ -9,7 +10,7 @@
         </Console>
     </Appenders>
     <Loggers>
-        <Root level="${sys:logLevel}">
+        <Root level="${sys:consoleLogLevel}">
             <AppenderRef ref="STDOUT"/>
         </Root>
     </Loggers>