diff --git a/Gopkg.lock b/Gopkg.lock
index 7119588b1..19a15cc5d 100644
--- a/Gopkg.lock
+++ b/Gopkg.lock
@@ -254,8 +254,8 @@
 [[projects]]
   name = "github.com/tendermint/go-amino"
   packages = ["."]
-  revision = "f55c3351f30e5987500020631f00e87a035ed415"
-  version = "0.9.3"
+  revision = "26718ab6738f938d4b33d593543cee7681f2a6a6"
+  version = "0.9.5"
 
 [[projects]]
   name = "github.com/tendermint/go-crypto"
@@ -288,8 +288,8 @@
     "pubsub/query",
     "test"
   ]
-  revision = "e9cf47606cfcbdc28a7c16671b4a70b459e9d4cc"
-  version = "v0.8.0-dev"
+  revision = "2e24b64fc121dcdf1cabceab8dc2f7257675483c"
+  version = "0.8.1"
 
 [[projects]]
   branch = "master"
@@ -386,6 +386,6 @@
 [solve-meta]
   analyzer-name = "dep"
   analyzer-version = 1
-  inputs-digest = "9aace7a292e5402f97327860531e13b77f036c19843b698566ee958773404f48"
+  inputs-digest = "8cd32c0a5faec4d8cbca3d9ea5d97b0e4e90bfc2a9f0e6b71a4846cb6030be94"
   solver-name = "gps-cdcl"
   solver-version = 1
diff --git a/Gopkg.toml b/Gopkg.toml
index aa523e119..73f73bebc 100644
--- a/Gopkg.toml
+++ b/Gopkg.toml
@@ -79,11 +79,11 @@
 
 [[constraint]]
   name = "github.com/tendermint/go-amino"
-  version = "0.9.3"
+  version = "0.9.5"
 
 [[constraint]]
   name = "github.com/tendermint/tmlibs"
-  version = "0.8.0-dev"
+  version = "0.8.1"
 
 [[constraint]]
   name = "google.golang.org/grpc"
diff --git a/blockchain/reactor_test.go b/blockchain/reactor_test.go
index d72ff8c30..63e3c72bb 100644
--- a/blockchain/reactor_test.go
+++ b/blockchain/reactor_test.go
@@ -16,8 +16,12 @@ import (
 
 func makeStateAndBlockStore(logger log.Logger) (sm.State, *BlockStore) {
 	config := cfg.ResetTestRoot("blockchain_reactor_test")
-	blockStore := NewBlockStore(dbm.NewMemDB())
-	state, err := sm.LoadStateFromDBOrGenesisFile(dbm.NewMemDB(), config.GenesisFile())
+	// blockDB := dbm.NewDebugDB("blockDB", dbm.NewMemDB())
+	// stateDB := dbm.NewDebugDB("stateDB", dbm.NewMemDB())
+	blockDB := dbm.NewMemDB()
+	stateDB := dbm.NewMemDB()
+	blockStore := NewBlockStore(blockDB)
+	state, err := sm.LoadStateFromDBOrGenesisFile(stateDB, config.GenesisFile())
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(cmn.ErrorWrap(err, "error constructing state from genesis file"))
 	}
diff --git a/blockchain/store.go b/blockchain/store.go
index f699c1c7c..8210f1439 100644
--- a/blockchain/store.go
+++ b/blockchain/store.go
@@ -53,14 +53,17 @@ func (bs *BlockStore) Height() int64 {
 // LoadBlock returns the block with the given height.
 // If no block is found for that height, it returns nil.
 func (bs *BlockStore) LoadBlock(height int64) *types.Block {
-	var blockMeta *types.BlockMeta
+	var blockMeta = new(types.BlockMeta)
 	bz := bs.db.Get(calcBlockMetaKey(height))
+	if len(bz) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
 	err := cdc.UnmarshalBinaryBare(bz, blockMeta)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(cmn.ErrorWrap(err, "Error reading block meta"))
 	}
 
-	var block *types.Block
+	var block = new(types.Block)
 	buf := []byte{}
 	for i := 0; i < blockMeta.BlockID.PartsHeader.Total; i++ {
 		part := bs.LoadBlockPart(height, i)
@@ -68,6 +71,8 @@ func (bs *BlockStore) LoadBlock(height int64) *types.Block {
 	}
 	err = cdc.UnmarshalBinaryBare(buf, block)
 	if err != nil {
+		// NOTE: The existence of meta should imply the existence of the
+		// block. So, make sure meta is only saved after blocks are saved.
 		panic(cmn.ErrorWrap(err, "Error reading block"))
 	}
 	return block
@@ -77,8 +82,11 @@ func (bs *BlockStore) LoadBlock(height int64) *types.Block {
 // from the block at the given height.
 // If no part is found for the given height and index, it returns nil.
 func (bs *BlockStore) LoadBlockPart(height int64, index int) *types.Part {
-	var part *types.Part
+	var part = new(types.Part)
 	bz := bs.db.Get(calcBlockPartKey(height, index))
+	if len(bz) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
 	err := cdc.UnmarshalBinaryBare(bz, part)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(cmn.ErrorWrap(err, "Error reading block part"))
@@ -89,8 +97,11 @@ func (bs *BlockStore) LoadBlockPart(height int64, index int) *types.Part {
 // LoadBlockMeta returns the BlockMeta for the given height.
 // If no block is found for the given height, it returns nil.
 func (bs *BlockStore) LoadBlockMeta(height int64) *types.BlockMeta {
-	var blockMeta *types.BlockMeta
+	var blockMeta = new(types.BlockMeta)
 	bz := bs.db.Get(calcBlockMetaKey(height))
+	if len(bz) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
 	err := cdc.UnmarshalBinaryBare(bz, blockMeta)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(cmn.ErrorWrap(err, "Error reading block meta"))
@@ -103,8 +114,11 @@ func (bs *BlockStore) LoadBlockMeta(height int64) *types.BlockMeta {
 // and it comes from the block.LastCommit for `height+1`.
 // If no commit is found for the given height, it returns nil.
 func (bs *BlockStore) LoadBlockCommit(height int64) *types.Commit {
-	var commit *types.Commit
+	var commit = new(types.Commit)
 	bz := bs.db.Get(calcBlockCommitKey(height))
+	if len(bz) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
 	err := cdc.UnmarshalBinaryBare(bz, commit)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(cmn.ErrorWrap(err, "Error reading block commit"))
@@ -116,8 +130,11 @@ func (bs *BlockStore) LoadBlockCommit(height int64) *types.Commit {
 // This is useful when we've seen a commit, but there has not yet been
 // a new block at `height + 1` that includes this commit in its block.LastCommit.
 func (bs *BlockStore) LoadSeenCommit(height int64) *types.Commit {
-	var commit *types.Commit
+	var commit = new(types.Commit)
 	bz := bs.db.Get(calcSeenCommitKey(height))
+	if len(bz) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
 	err := cdc.UnmarshalBinaryBare(bz, commit)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(cmn.ErrorWrap(err, "Error reading block commit"))
@@ -150,7 +167,8 @@ func (bs *BlockStore) SaveBlock(block *types.Block, blockParts *types.PartSet, s
 
 	// Save block parts
 	for i := 0; i < blockParts.Total(); i++ {
-		bs.saveBlockPart(height, i, blockParts.GetPart(i))
+		part := blockParts.GetPart(i)
+		bs.saveBlockPart(height, i, part)
 	}
 
 	// Save block commit (duplicate and separate from the Block)
diff --git a/blockchain/store_test.go b/blockchain/store_test.go
index ac0f1a430..b2188043e 100644
--- a/blockchain/store_test.go
+++ b/blockchain/store_test.go
@@ -153,14 +153,14 @@ func TestBlockStoreSaveLoadBlock(t *testing.T) {
 			parts:             validPartSet,
 			seenCommit:        seenCommit1,
 			corruptCommitInDB: true, // Corrupt the DB's commit entry
-			wantPanic:         "rror reading commit",
+			wantPanic:         "Error reading block commit",
 		},
 
 		{
 			block:            newBlock(&header1, commitAtH10),
 			parts:            validPartSet,
 			seenCommit:       seenCommit1,
-			wantPanic:        "rror reading block",
+			wantPanic:        "Error reading block",
 			corruptBlockInDB: true, // Corrupt the DB's block entry
 		},
 
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ func TestBlockStoreSaveLoadBlock(t *testing.T) {
 			seenCommit: seenCommit1,
 
 			corruptSeenCommitInDB: true,
-			wantPanic:             "rror reading commit",
+			wantPanic:             "Error reading block commit",
 		},
 
 		{
@@ -341,6 +341,9 @@ func TestBlockFetchAtHeight(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, bs.Height(), block.Header.Height, "expecting the new height to be changed")
 
 	blockAtHeight := bs.LoadBlock(bs.Height())
+	bz1 := cdc.MustMarshalBinaryBare(block)
+	bz2 := cdc.MustMarshalBinaryBare(blockAtHeight)
+	require.Equal(t, bz1, bz2)
 	require.Equal(t, block.Hash(), blockAtHeight.Hash(),
 		"expecting a successful load of the last saved block")
 
diff --git a/blockchain/wire.go b/blockchain/wire.go
index 72431db82..55b4e60ae 100644
--- a/blockchain/wire.go
+++ b/blockchain/wire.go
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@ package blockchain
 
 import (
 	"github.com/tendermint/go-amino"
+	"github.com/tendermint/go-crypto"
 )
 
 var cdc = amino.NewCodec()
 
 func init() {
 	RegisterBlockchainMessages(cdc)
+	crypto.RegisterAmino(cdc)
 }
diff --git a/types/block.go b/types/block.go
index 44e616e68..1a9b47803 100644
--- a/types/block.go
+++ b/types/block.go
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ func (b *Block) Hash() cmn.HexBytes {
 // MakePartSet returns a PartSet containing parts of a serialized block.
 // This is the form in which the block is gossipped to peers.
 func (b *Block) MakePartSet(partSize int) *PartSet {
-	bz, err := cdc.MarshalBinary(b)
+	bz, err := cdc.MarshalBinaryBare(b)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
@@ -498,7 +498,7 @@ func (blockID BlockID) Equals(other BlockID) bool {
 
 // Key returns a machine-readable string representation of the BlockID
 func (blockID BlockID) Key() string {
-	bz, err := cdc.MarshalBinary(blockID.PartsHeader)
+	bz, err := cdc.MarshalBinaryBare(blockID.PartsHeader)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ type hasher struct {
 
 func (h hasher) Hash() []byte {
 	hasher := ripemd160.New()
-	if h.item != nil && !cmn.IsTypedNil(h.item) {
+	if h.item != nil && !cmn.IsTypedNil(h.item) && !cmn.IsEmpty(h.item) {
 		bz, err := cdc.MarshalBinaryBare(h.item)
 		if err != nil {
 			panic(err)