diff --git a/x/wasm/types/proposal_test.go b/x/wasm/types/proposal_test.go
index 8952f8cf..dc2bc516 100644
--- a/x/wasm/types/proposal_test.go
+++ b/x/wasm/types/proposal_test.go
@@ -340,6 +340,12 @@ func TestValidateInstantiateContract2Proposal(t *testing.T) {
 			}),
 			expErr: true,
 		},
+		"untrimmed label ": {
+			src: InstantiateContract2ProposalFixture(func(p *InstantiateContract2Proposal) {
+				p.Label = "    label   "
+			}),
+			expErr: true,
+		},
 		"init funds negative": {
 			src: InstantiateContract2ProposalFixture(func(p *InstantiateContract2Proposal) {
 				p.Funds = sdk.Coins{{Denom: "foo", Amount: sdk.NewInt(-1)}}
diff --git a/x/wasm/types/validation.go b/x/wasm/types/validation.go
index 38da21e9..b954c4f8 100644
--- a/x/wasm/types/validation.go
+++ b/x/wasm/types/validation.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package types
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
+	"strings"
 
 	errorsmod "cosmossdk.io/errors"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
@@ -40,6 +41,9 @@ func ValidateLabel(label string) error {
 	if len(label) > MaxLabelSize {
 		return ErrLimit.Wrapf("cannot be longer than %d characters", MaxLabelSize)
 	}
+	if label != strings.TrimSpace(label) {
+		return ErrInvalid.Wrap("label must not start/end with whitespaces")
+	}
 	return nil
 }