diff --git a/client/http_client.go b/client/http_client.go
index 3eb35aa3c..960869b75 100644
--- a/client/http_client.go
+++ b/client/http_client.go
@@ -67,11 +67,16 @@ func NewClientJSONRPC(remote string) *ClientJSONRPC {
 }
 
 func (c *ClientJSONRPC) Call(method string, params map[string]interface{}, result interface{}) (interface{}, error) {
-	// Make request and get responseBytes
+	// we need this step because we attempt to decode values using `go-wire`
+	// (handlers.go:176) on the server side
+	encodedParams := make(map[string]interface{})
+	for k, v := range params {
+		encodedParams[k] = json.RawMessage(wire.JSONBytes(v))
+	}
 	request := types.RPCRequest{
 		JSONRPC: "2.0",
 		Method:  method,
-		Params:  params,
+		Params:  encodedParams,
 		ID:      "",
 	}
 	requestBytes, err := json.Marshal(request)
diff --git a/rpc_test.go b/rpc_test.go
index 990122517..a719aee55 100644
--- a/rpc_test.go
+++ b/rpc_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 package rpc
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
+	crand "crypto/rand"
+	"math/rand"
 	"net/http"
 	"os/exec"
 	"testing"
@@ -29,14 +32,20 @@ type ResultStatus struct {
 	Value string
 }
 
+type ResultBytes struct {
+	Value []byte
+}
+
 var _ = wire.RegisterInterface(
 	struct{ Result }{},
 	wire.ConcreteType{&ResultStatus{}, 0x1},
+	wire.ConcreteType{&ResultBytes{}, 0x2},
 )
 
 // Define some routes
 var Routes = map[string]*server.RPCFunc{
 	"status": server.NewRPCFunc(StatusResult, "arg"),
+	"bytes":  server.NewRPCFunc(BytesResult, "arg"),
 }
 
 // an rpc function
@@ -44,6 +53,10 @@ func StatusResult(v string) (Result, error) {
 	return &ResultStatus{v}, nil
 }
 
+func BytesResult(v []byte) (Result, error) {
+	return &ResultBytes{v}, nil
+}
+
 // launch unix and tcp servers
 func init() {
 	cmd := exec.Command("rm", "-f", unixSocket)
@@ -214,3 +227,31 @@ func TestQuotedStringArg(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Got: %v   ....   Expected: %v \n", got, val)
 	}
 }
+
+func randBytes(t *testing.T) []byte {
+	n := rand.Intn(10) + 2
+	buf := make([]byte, n)
+	_, err := crand.Read(buf)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return bytes.Replace(buf, []byte("="), []byte{100}, -1)
+}
+
+func TestByteSliceViaJSONRPC(t *testing.T) {
+	cl := client.NewClientJSONRPC(unixAddr)
+
+	val := randBytes(t)
+	params := map[string]interface{}{
+		"arg": val,
+	}
+	var result Result
+	_, err := cl.Call("bytes", params, &result)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	got := result.(*ResultBytes).Value
+	if bytes.Compare(got, val) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("Got: %v   ....   Expected: %v \n", got, val)
+	}
+}