diff --git a/lib/block.js b/lib/block.js
index 6266727..43e90c8 100644
--- a/lib/block.js
+++ b/lib/block.js
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ Block._fromJSON = function _fromJSON(data) {
     magicnum: data.magicnum,
     blocksize: data.blocksize,
     blockheader: BlockHeader.fromJSON(data.blockheader),
-    txsvi: Varint().fromJSON(data.txsvi),
+    txsvi: Varint().fromString(data.txsvi),
     txs: txs
   };
   return info;
@@ -144,9 +144,9 @@ Block.fromRawBlock = function fromRawBlock(data) {
 };
 
 /**
- * @returns {Object} - A JSON object with the block properties
+ * @returns {Object} - A plain object with the block properties
  */
-Block.prototype.toJSON = function toJSON() {
+Block.prototype.toObject = function toObject() {
   var txs = [];
   this.txs.forEach(function(tx) {
     txs.push(tx.toJSON());
@@ -154,12 +154,19 @@ Block.prototype.toJSON = function toJSON() {
   return {
     magicnum: this.magicnum,
     blocksize: this.blocksize,
-    blockheader: this.blockheader.toJSON(),
-    txsvi: this.txsvi.toJSON(),
+    blockheader: this.blockheader.toObject(),
+    txsvi: this.txsvi.toString(),
     txs: txs
   };
 };
 
+/**
+ * @returns {String} - A JSON string
+ */
+Block.prototype.toJSON = function toJSON() {
+  return JSON.stringify(this.toObject());
+};
+
 /**
  * @returns {Buffer} - A buffer of the block
  */
diff --git a/lib/blockheader.js b/lib/blockheader.js
index 9300e2e..2fdf9b4 100644
--- a/lib/blockheader.js
+++ b/lib/blockheader.js
@@ -139,9 +139,9 @@ BlockHeader.fromBufferReader = function fromBufferReader(br) {
 };
 
 /**
- * @returns {Object} - A JSON object of the BlockHeader
+ * @returns {Object} - A plain object of the BlockHeader
  */
-BlockHeader.prototype.toJSON = function toJSON() {
+BlockHeader.prototype.toObject = function toObject() {
   return {
     version: this.version,
     prevblockidbuf: this.prevblockidbuf.toString('hex'),
@@ -152,6 +152,13 @@ BlockHeader.prototype.toJSON = function toJSON() {
   };
 };
 
+/**
+ * @returns {String} - A JSON string
+ */
+BlockHeader.prototype.toJSON = function toJSON() {
+  return JSON.stringify(this.toObject());
+};
+
 /**
  * @returns {Buffer} - A Buffer of the BlockHeader
  */
diff --git a/lib/encoding/varint.js b/lib/encoding/varint.js
index 0ba7f10..c434f4d 100644
--- a/lib/encoding/varint.js
+++ b/lib/encoding/varint.js
@@ -26,14 +26,14 @@ Varint.prototype.set = function(obj) {
   return this;
 };
 
-Varint.prototype.fromJSON = function(json) {
+Varint.prototype.fromString = function(str) {
   this.set({
-    buf: new Buffer(json, 'hex')
+    buf: new Buffer(str, 'hex')
   });
   return this;
 };
 
-Varint.prototype.toJSON = function() {
+Varint.prototype.toString = function() {
   return this.buf.toString('hex');
 };
 
diff --git a/test/block.js b/test/block.js
index fdd421e..148a552 100644
--- a/test/block.js
+++ b/test/block.js
@@ -107,8 +107,8 @@ describe('Block', function() {
   describe('#toJSON', function() {
 
     it('should recover these known values', function() {
-      var block = Block(json);
-      var b = block.toJSON();
+      var block = Block.fromJSON(json);
+      var b = JSON.parse(block.toJSON());
       should.exist(b.magicnum);
       should.exist(b.blocksize);
       should.exist(b.blockheader);
diff --git a/test/blockheader.js b/test/blockheader.js
index 4fed3a1..6e226a3 100644
--- a/test/blockheader.js
+++ b/test/blockheader.js
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ describe('BlockHeader', function() {
   describe('#toJSON', function() {
 
     it('should set all the variables', function() {
-      var json = bh.toJSON();
+      var json = JSON.parse(bh.toJSON());
       should.exist(json.version);
       should.exist(json.prevblockidbuf);
       should.exist(json.merklerootbuf);
diff --git a/test/encoding/varint.js b/test/encoding/varint.js
index 9a8bb84..2ee6b2c 100644
--- a/test/encoding/varint.js
+++ b/test/encoding/varint.js
@@ -36,22 +36,22 @@ describe('Varint', function() {
 
   });
 
-  describe('#fromJSON', function() {
+  describe('#fromString', function() {
     
     it('should set a buffer', function() {
       var buf = BufferWriter().writeVarintNum(5).concat();
-      var varint = Varint().fromJSON(buf.toString('hex'));
+      var varint = Varint().fromString(buf.toString('hex'));
       varint.toNumber().should.equal(5);
     });
 
   });
 
-  describe('#toJSON', function() {
+  describe('#toString', function() {
     
     it('should return a buffer', function() {
       var buf = BufferWriter().writeVarintNum(5).concat();
-      var varint = Varint().fromJSON(buf.toString('hex'));
-      varint.toJSON().should.equal('05');
+      var varint = Varint().fromString(buf.toString('hex'));
+      varint.toString().should.equal('05');
     });
 
   });