diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0ff2d36..b063996 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 0.3.0 / 2014-06-29
 ------------------
 - bugfix: if private key was less than 32 bytes, pad out to 32 bytes with leading zeros (this happens in derive)
-
+- changed behavior of `privateExtendedKey()` and `publicExtendedKey()` to return base 58 encoded `string` instead of `Buffer`
 
 0.2.0 / 2014-06-25
 ------------------
diff --git a/lib/hdkey.js b/lib/hdkey.js
index 7fe793f..7c25171 100644
--- a/lib/hdkey.js
+++ b/lib/hdkey.js
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 var assert = require('assert')
 var crypto = require('crypto')
 var BigInteger = require('bigi')
+var cs = require('coinstring')
 var ecurve = require('ecurve')
 var curve = ecurve.getCurveByName('secp256k1')
 var Point = ecurve.Point
 var sha512 = require('sha512')
 
+
 module.exports = HDKey
 
 var MASTER_SECRET = new Buffer('Bitcoin seed')
@@ -63,13 +65,13 @@ Object.defineProperty(HDKey.prototype, 'publicKey', {
 
 Object.defineProperty(HDKey.prototype, 'privateExtendedKey', {
   get: function() {
-    return serialize(this, this.versions.private, Buffer.concat([new Buffer([0]), this.privateKey]))
+    return cs.encode(serialize(this, this.versions.private, Buffer.concat([new Buffer([0]), this.privateKey])))
   }
 })
 
 Object.defineProperty(HDKey.prototype, 'publicExtendedKey', {
   get: function() {
-    return serialize(this, this.versions.public, this.publicKey)
+    return cs.encode(serialize(this, this.versions.public, this.publicKey))
   }
 })
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 9fb172b..bb4e137 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -27,8 +27,7 @@
     "istanbul": "^0.2.10",
     "secure-random": "^1.0.0",
     "mochify": "^0.9.3",
-    "crypto-browserify": "^2.1.8",
-    "coinstring": "^2.0.0"
+    "crypto-browserify": "^2.1.8"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "sha512": "0.0.1",
diff --git a/test/hdkey.test.js b/test/hdkey.test.js
index f6bff60..34caa3e 100644
--- a/test/hdkey.test.js
+++ b/test/hdkey.test.js
@@ -9,10 +9,6 @@ var curve = ecurve.getCurveByName('secp256k1')
 var HDKey = require('../')
 var fixtures = require('./fixtures/hdkey')
 
-function encode(buf) {
-  return cs.encode(buf)
-}
-
 describe('hdkey', function() {
   describe('+ fromMasterSeed', function() {
     var f = fixtures.valid.forEach(function(f) {
@@ -21,8 +17,8 @@ describe('hdkey', function() {
         var hdkey = HDKey.fromMasterSeed(new Buffer(f.seed, 'hex'))
         var childkey = hdkey.derive(f.path)
 
-        assert.equal(encode(childkey.privateExtendedKey), f.private)
-        assert.equal(encode(childkey.publicExtendedKey), f.public)
+        assert.equal(childkey.privateExtendedKey, f.private)
+        assert.equal(childkey.publicExtendedKey, f.public)
       })
     }) 
   })
@@ -109,7 +105,7 @@ describe('hdkey', function() {
       var derivedHDKey = hdkey.derive(path)
 
       var expected = "xpub6JdKdVJtdx6sC3nh87pDvnGhotXuU5Kz6Qy7Piy84vUAwWSYShsUGULE8u6gCivTHgz7cCKJHiXaaMeieB4YnoFVAsNgHHKXJ2mN6jCMbH1"
-      assert.equal(cs.encode(derivedHDKey.publicExtendedKey), expected)
+      assert.equal(derivedHDKey.publicExtendedKey, expected)
 
     })
   })
@@ -121,7 +117,7 @@ describe('hdkey', function() {
       
       var newKey = masterKey.derive("m/44'/6'/4'")
       var expected = 'xprv9ymoag6W7cR6KBcJzhCM6qqTrb3rRVVwXKzwNqp1tDWcwierEv3BA9if3ARHMhMPh9u2jNoutcgpUBLMfq3kADDo7LzfoCnhhXMRGX3PXDx'
-      assert.equal(cs.encode(newKey.privateExtendedKey), expected)
+      assert.equal(newKey.privateExtendedKey, expected)
     })
   })
 })