diff --git a/api/chain.go b/api/chain.go
index 7907d5d99..8c081bd89 100644
--- a/api/chain.go
+++ b/api/chain.go
@@ -706,7 +706,7 @@ func (a *API) chainTxHandler(_ *apirest.APIdata, ctx *httprouter.HTTPContext) er
 		return ErrVochainGetTxFailed.WithErr(err)
 	}
 	tx := &GenericTransactionWithInfo{
-		TxContent: []byte(protoFormat(stx.Tx)),
+		TxContent: protoTxAsJSON(stx.Tx),
 		Signature: stx.Signature,
 		TxInfo:    *ref,
 	}
diff --git a/api/helpers.go b/api/helpers.go
index 3c47b4ac2..a7431c296 100644
--- a/api/helpers.go
+++ b/api/helpers.go
@@ -57,17 +57,21 @@ func (a *API) sendTx(tx []byte) (*cometcoretypes.ResultBroadcastTx, error) {
 	return resp, nil
 }
 
-func protoFormat(tx []byte) string {
+func protoTxAsJSON(tx []byte) []byte {
 	ptx := models.Tx{}
 	if err := proto.Unmarshal(tx, &ptx); err != nil {
-		return ""
+		panic(err)
 	}
 	pj := protojson.MarshalOptions{
 		Multiline:       false,
 		Indent:          "",
 		EmitUnpopulated: true,
 	}
-	return pj.Format(&ptx)
+	asJSON, err := pj.Marshal(&ptx)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	return asJSON
 }
 
 // isTransactionType checks if the given transaction is of the given type.
diff --git a/api/helpers_test.go b/api/helpers_test.go
index 215d7d999..bc1038754 100644
--- a/api/helpers_test.go
+++ b/api/helpers_test.go
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ func TestConvertKeysToCamel(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestProtoFormat(t *testing.T) {
+func TestProtoTxAsJSON(t *testing.T) {
 	wantJSON := strings.TrimSpace(`
 {
 	"setProcess": {
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ func TestProtoFormat(t *testing.T) {
 	qt.Assert(t, err, qt.IsNil)
 
 	var dst bytes.Buffer
-	err = json.Indent(&dst, []byte(protoFormat(asProto)), "", "\t")
+	err = json.Indent(&dst, protoTxAsJSON(asProto), "", "\t")
 	gotJSON := dst.String()
 
 	qt.Assert(t, gotJSON, qt.Equals, wantJSON)