diff --git a/lib/script/witness.js b/lib/script/witness.js
index 692717055..30f34ed1f 100644
--- a/lib/script/witness.js
+++ b/lib/script/witness.js
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ class Witness extends Stack {
     bw.writeVarint(this.items.length);
 
     for (const item of this.items)
-      bw.writeVarBytes(item);
+      bw.writeVarBytes(Buffer.from(item));
 
     return bw;
   }
@@ -431,7 +431,11 @@ class Witness extends Stack {
    */
 
   toJSON() {
-    return this.toRaw().toString('hex');
+    let result = this.toRaw().toString('hex');
+    if (result === '00') {
+      result = '';
+    }
+    return result;
   }
 
   /**