diff --git a/lib/block/blockheader.js b/lib/block/blockheader.js
index 64df63090..7390a2a28 100644
--- a/lib/block/blockheader.js
+++ b/lib/block/blockheader.js
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ const GENESIS_BITS = 0x1d00ffff;
  * Instantiate a BlockHeader from a Buffer, JSON object, or Object with
  * the properties of the BlockHeader
  *
- * @param {BlockHeader.fromObjectParams|Buffer} arg - A Buffer, JSON string, or Object
+ * @param {BlockHeader.fromObjectParams|Buffer|Uint8Array} arg - A Buffer, Uint8Array, JSON string, or Object
  * @returns {BlockHeader} - An instance of block header
  * @constructor
  */
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ const BlockHeader = function BlockHeader(arg) {
 };
 
 /**
- * @param {BlockHeader.fromObjectParams|Buffer} arg - A Buffer, JSON string or Object
+ * @param {BlockHeader.fromObjectParams|Buffer|Uint8Array} arg - A Buffer, Uint8Array, JSON string or Object
  * @returns {Object} - An object representing block header data
  * @throws {TypeError} - If the argument was not recognized
  * @private
diff --git a/lib/encoding/bufferreader.js b/lib/encoding/bufferreader.js
index 2ff70db80..cb5e0c683 100644
--- a/lib/encoding/bufferreader.js
+++ b/lib/encoding/bufferreader.js
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ var BufferReader = function BufferReader(buf) {
   if (_.isUndefined(buf)) {
     return;
   }
-  if (Buffer.isBuffer(buf)) {
+  if (buf instanceof Uint8Array) {
     this.set({
-      buf: buf,
+      buf: Buffer.isBuffer(buf) ? buf : Buffer.from(buf),
     });
   } else if (_.isString(buf)) {
     this.set({
diff --git a/test/block/blockheader.js b/test/block/blockheader.js
index a3020de05..da877e4d1 100644
--- a/test/block/blockheader.js
+++ b/test/block/blockheader.js
@@ -161,6 +161,24 @@ describe('BlockHeader', function () {
         .toString('hex')
         .should.equal(bhhex);
     });
+
+    it('should accept Uint8Array', function () {
+      var bytes = new Uint8Array(bhbuf);
+      var fromBuffer = BlockHeader.fromBuffer(bhbuf);
+      var fromBytes = new BlockHeader(bytes);
+
+      fromBytes.version.should.equal(fromBuffer.version);
+      fromBytes.prevHash.toString('hex').should.equal(
+        fromBuffer.prevHash.toString('hex')
+      );
+      fromBytes.merkleRoot.toString('hex').should.equal(
+        fromBuffer.merkleRoot.toString('hex')
+      );
+      fromBytes.time.should.equal(fromBuffer.time);
+      fromBytes.bits.should.equal(fromBuffer.bits);
+      fromBytes.nonce.should.equal(fromBuffer.nonce);
+      fromBytes.toBuffer().toString('hex').should.equal(bhhex);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('#fromBufferReader', function () {
diff --git a/test/encoding/bufferreader.js b/test/encoding/bufferreader.js
index ca3d77813..dd3086175 100644
--- a/test/encoding/bufferreader.js
+++ b/test/encoding/bufferreader.js
@@ -23,6 +23,18 @@ describe('BufferReader', function () {
     should.exist(br);
     Buffer.isBuffer(br.buf).should.equal(true);
   });
+
+  it('should accept Uint8Array', function () {
+    var bytes = new Uint8Array([1, 2, 0x34, 0x12, 0xdd, 0xcc, 0xbb, 0xaa]);
+    var br = new BufferReader(bytes);
+    should.exist(br);
+    Buffer.isBuffer(br.buf).should.equal(true);
+    br.readUInt8().should.equal(1);
+    br.readUInt8().should.equal(2);
+    br.readUInt16LE().should.equal(0x1234);
+    br.readUInt32LE().should.equal(0xaabbccdd);
+  });
+
   it('should fail for invalid object', function () {
     var fail = function () {
       return new BufferReader(5);