diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1ffec508a0b..4e08acb84b8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog
 
+### Unreleased
+
+### Fixes
+
+- Do not store No-Op scopes onto OpenTelemetry Context when wrapping ([#4631](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/4631))
+  - In 8.18.0 and 8.19.0 the SDK could break when initialized too late.
+
 ## 8.19.0
 
 ### Features
diff --git a/codecov.yml b/codecov.yml
index bbb853b3556..9b1af61b4c6 100644
--- a/codecov.yml
+++ b/codecov.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ coverage:
     project:
       default:
         target: 78%
-        threshold: 3%
+        threshold: 4%
     patch: off
   range: 78...100
   precision: 3
diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryContextWrapper.java b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryContextWrapper.java
index 1b0581fc9e2..e4a3d9d4c02 100644
--- a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryContextWrapper.java
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryContextWrapper.java
@@ -47,7 +47,11 @@ private <V> boolean isOpentelemetrySpan(final @NotNull ContextKey<V> contextKey)
     if (sentrySpan != null) {
       forkedScopes.setActiveSpan(sentrySpan);
     }
-    return context.with(SENTRY_SCOPES_KEY, forkedScopes);
+    if (forkedScopes.isNoOp()) {
+      return context;
+    } else {
+      return context.with(SENTRY_SCOPES_KEY, forkedScopes);
+    }
   }
 
   private static @NotNull IScopes forkCurrentScopeInternal(
diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/test/kotlin/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryContextWrapperTest.kt b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/test/kotlin/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryContextWrapperTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c0647cd9c01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/test/kotlin/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryContextWrapperTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package io.sentry.opentelemetry
+
+import io.opentelemetry.context.Context
+import io.sentry.Sentry
+import io.sentry.opentelemetry.SentryOtelKeys.SENTRY_SCOPES_KEY
+import junit.framework.TestCase.assertNull
+import junit.framework.TestCase.assertTrue
+import kotlin.test.Test
+
+class SentryContextWrapperTest {
+
+  @Test
+  fun `ensure noop scopes are not stored on Context`() {
+    val context = Context.root()
+    assertNull(context.get(SENTRY_SCOPES_KEY))
+    assertTrue(Sentry.getCurrentScopes().isNoOp)
+    val wrappedContext = SentryContextWrapper.wrap(context)
+    assertNull(wrappedContext.get(SENTRY_SCOPES_KEY))
+  }
+}