diff --git a/Gopkg.lock b/Gopkg.lock
index 96df808a5..f0eaee18d 100644
--- a/Gopkg.lock
+++ b/Gopkg.lock
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 # This file is autogenerated, do not edit; changes may be undone by the next 'dep ensure'.
 
 
+[[projects]]
+  branch = "master"
+  name = "github.com/btcsuite/btcutil"
+  packages = ["bech32"]
+  revision = "d4cc87b860166d00d6b5b9e0d3b3d71d6088d4d4"
+
 [[projects]]
   name = "github.com/davecgh/go-spew"
   packages = ["spew"]
@@ -41,16 +47,6 @@
   revision = "817915b46b97fd7bb80e8ab6b69f01a53ac3eebf"
   version = "v1.6.0"
 
-[[projects]]
-  name = "github.com/gogo/protobuf"
-  packages = [
-    "gogoproto",
-    "proto",
-    "protoc-gen-gogo/descriptor"
-  ]
-  revision = "1adfc126b41513cc696b209667c8656ea7aac67c"
-  version = "v1.0.0"
-
 [[projects]]
   name = "github.com/golang/protobuf"
   packages = [
@@ -196,11 +192,6 @@
   ]
   revision = "b89cc31ef7977104127d34c1bd31ebd1a9db2199"
 
-[[projects]]
-  name = "golang.org/x/crypto"
-  packages = ["ripemd160"]
-  revision = "edd5e9b0879d13ee6970a50153d85b8fec9f7686"
-
 [[projects]]
   branch = "master"
   name = "golang.org/x/net"
@@ -285,6 +276,6 @@
 [solve-meta]
   analyzer-name = "dep"
   analyzer-version = 1
-  inputs-digest = "8aa4ea7ef6d0ff170127eb5bca89c6c37c767d58047159cfd26a431c5cd5e7ad"
+  inputs-digest = "e0c0af880b57928787ea78a820abefd2759e6aee4cba18e67ab36b80e62ad581"
   solver-name = "gps-cdcl"
   solver-version = 1
diff --git a/Gopkg.toml b/Gopkg.toml
index ef3f055a8..ff42087f8 100644
--- a/Gopkg.toml
+++ b/Gopkg.toml
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@
   name = "github.com/stretchr/testify"
   version = "1.2.1"
 
+[[constraint]]
+  name = "github.com/btcsuite/btcutil"
+  branch ="master"
 [prune]
   go-tests = true
   unused-packages = true
diff --git a/bech32/bech32.go b/bech32/bech32.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3c778309c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bech32/bech32.go
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package bech32
+
+import (
+	"github.com/btcsuite/btcutil/bech32"
+)
+
+//ConvertAndEncode converts from a base64 encoded byte string to base32 encoded byte string and then to bech32
+func ConvertAndEncode(hrp string, data []byte) (string, error) {
+	converted, err := bech32.ConvertBits(data, 8, 5, true)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return bech32.Encode(hrp, converted)
+
+}
+
+//DecodeAndConvert decodes a bech32 encoded string and converts to base64 encoded bytes
+func DecodeAndConvert(bech string) (string, []byte, error) {
+	hrp, data, err := bech32.Decode(bech)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", nil, err
+	}
+	converted, err := bech32.ConvertBits(data, 5, 8, false)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", nil, err
+	}
+	return hrp, converted, nil
+}
diff --git a/bech32/bech32_test.go b/bech32/bech32_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7cdebba2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bech32/bech32_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+package bech32_test
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/tendermint/tmlibs/bech32"
+)
+
+func TestEncodeAndDecode(t *testing.T) {
+
+	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte("hello world\n"))
+
+	bech, err := bech32.ConvertAndEncode("shasum", sum[:])
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+	hrp, data, err := bech32.DecodeAndConvert(bech)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+	if hrp != "shasum" {
+		t.Error("Invalid hrp")
+	}
+	if bytes.Compare(data, sum[:]) != 0 {
+		t.Error("Invalid decode")
+	}
+}