diff --git a/chaincfg/params.go b/chaincfg/params.go
index 0b1689939..8bcc5a8dd 100644
--- a/chaincfg/params.go
+++ b/chaincfg/params.go
@@ -337,31 +337,10 @@ var (
 )
 
 var (
-	registeredNets = map[wire.BitcoinNet]struct{}{
-		MainNetParams.Net:       {},
-		TestNet3Params.Net:      {},
-		RegressionNetParams.Net: {},
-		SimNetParams.Net:        {},
-	}
-
-	pubKeyHashAddrIDs = map[byte]struct{}{
-		MainNetParams.PubKeyHashAddrID:  {},
-		TestNet3Params.PubKeyHashAddrID: {}, // shared with regtest
-		SimNetParams.PubKeyHashAddrID:   {},
-	}
-
-	scriptHashAddrIDs = map[byte]struct{}{
-		MainNetParams.ScriptHashAddrID:  {},
-		TestNet3Params.ScriptHashAddrID: {}, // shared with regtest
-		SimNetParams.ScriptHashAddrID:   {},
-	}
-
-	// Testnet is shared with regtest.
-	hdPrivToPubKeyIDs = map[[4]byte][]byte{
-		MainNetParams.HDPrivateKeyID:  MainNetParams.HDPublicKeyID[:],
-		TestNet3Params.HDPrivateKeyID: TestNet3Params.HDPublicKeyID[:],
-		SimNetParams.HDPrivateKeyID:   SimNetParams.HDPublicKeyID[:],
-	}
+	registeredNets    = make(map[wire.BitcoinNet]struct{})
+	pubKeyHashAddrIDs = make(map[byte]struct{})
+	scriptHashAddrIDs = make(map[byte]struct{})
+	hdPrivToPubKeyIDs = make(map[[4]byte][]byte)
 )
 
 // Register registers the network parameters for a Bitcoin network.  This may
@@ -384,6 +363,14 @@ func Register(params *Params) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// mustRegister performs the same function as Register except it panics if there
+// is an error.  This should only be called from package init functions.
+func mustRegister(params *Params) {
+	if err := Register(params); err != nil {
+		panic("failed to register network: " + err.Error())
+	}
+}
+
 // IsPubKeyHashAddrID returns whether the id is an identifier known to prefix a
 // pay-to-pubkey-hash address on any default or registered network.  This is
 // used when decoding an address string into a specific address type.  It is up
@@ -442,3 +429,11 @@ func newShaHashFromStr(hexStr string) *wire.ShaHash {
 	}
 	return sha
 }
+
+func init() {
+	// Register all default networks when the package is initialized.
+	mustRegister(&MainNetParams)
+	mustRegister(&TestNet3Params)
+	mustRegister(&RegressionNetParams)
+	mustRegister(&SimNetParams)
+}
diff --git a/chaincfg/params_test.go b/chaincfg/params_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b6651f62d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chaincfg/params_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2016 The btcsuite developers
+// Use of this source code is governed by an ISC
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package chaincfg
+
+import "testing"
+
+// TestMustRegisterPanic ensures the mustRegister function panics when used to
+// register an invalid network.
+func TestMustRegisterPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	// Setup a defer to catch the expected panic to ensure it actually
+	// paniced.
+	defer func() {
+		if err := recover(); err == nil {
+			t.Error("mustRegister did not panic as expected")
+		}
+	}()
+
+	// Intentionally try to register duplicate params to force a panic.
+	mustRegister(&MainNetParams)
+}