diff --git a/.github/workflows/unittests.yml b/.github/workflows/unittests.yml
index 75b3589..539956d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unittests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unittests.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         os: [macos-13, ubuntu-latest]
-        python-version: ["3.8", "3.12"]
+        python-version: ["3.9", "3.12"]
         bitcoind-version: ["29.2"]
 
     steps:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 8f0e581..3129ef4 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ name = "joinmarket"
 version = "0.9.12dev"
 description = "Joinmarket client library for Bitcoin coinjoins"
 readme = "README.md"
-requires-python = ">=3.8,<3.13"
+requires-python = ">=3.9,<3.13"
 license = {file = "LICENSE"}
 dependencies = [
     "chromalog==1.0.5",
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ jmbitcoin = [
 jmclient = [
     "argon2_cffi==21.3.0",
     "autobahn==20.12.3",
-    "bencoder.pyx==3.0.1",
+    "fastbencode==0.3.6",
     "klein==20.6.0",
     "mnemonic==0.20",
     "pyjwt==2.4.0",
diff --git a/src/jmclient/storage.py b/src/jmclient/storage.py
index 4658edf..d685422 100644
--- a/src/jmclient/storage.py
+++ b/src/jmclient/storage.py
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
+import atexit
 import os
 import shutil
-import atexit
-import bencoder
 from hashlib import sha256
+from typing import Any
+
 from argon2 import low_level
-from jmbase import aes_cbc_encrypt, aes_cbc_decrypt
+from fastbencode import bdecode, bencode_utf8
+
+from jmbase import aes_cbc_decrypt, aes_cbc_encrypt
+
 from .support import get_random_bytes
 
 
@@ -223,12 +227,12 @@ class Storage(object):
         return self.path
 
     @staticmethod
-    def _serialize(data):
-        return bencoder.bencode(data)
+    def _serialize(data: Any) -> bytes:
+        return bencode_utf8(data)
 
     @staticmethod
-    def _deserialize(data):
-        return bencoder.bdecode(data)
+    def _deserialize(data: bytes) -> Any:
+        return bdecode(data)
 
     def _encrypt_file(self, data):
         if not self.is_encrypted():
diff --git a/test/jmclient/test_storage.py b/test/jmclient/test_storage.py
index a8a2925..2f0e465 100644
--- a/test/jmclient/test_storage.py
+++ b/test/jmclient/test_storage.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 from jmclient import storage
 import pytest
 
@@ -81,6 +80,7 @@ def test_storage_invalid():
         MockStorage(b'garbagefile', __file__, b'password')
         pytest.fail("Non-wallet file, encrypted")
 
+
 def test_storage_readonly():
     s = MockStorage(None, 'nonexistant', b'password', create=True)
     s = MockStorage(s.file_data, __file__, b'password', read_only=True)
@@ -136,3 +136,30 @@ def test_storage_lock(tmpdir):
         s._create_lock()
         pytest.fail("It should not be possible to re-create a lock")
 
+
+testdata = {
+    b"bytes_key": b"bytes_value",
+    b"int_key": 42,
+    b"list_key": [b"a", b"b", b"c", 1, 2, 3],
+    b"dict_key": {b"nested": b"data", b"number": 999},
+}
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "test_data, expected_out",
+    [
+        (testdata, testdata),
+        ({b"dict_key": {b"utf": "value"}}, {b"dict_key": {b"utf": b"value"}}),
+    ],
+)
+def test_bencode_roundtrip_consistency(test_data, expected_out):
+    s = MockStorage(None, "nonexistent", None, create=True)
+
+    serialized1 = s._serialize(test_data)
+    deserialized1 = s._deserialize(serialized1)
+
+    serialized2 = s._serialize(deserialized1)
+    deserialized2 = s._deserialize(serialized2)
+
+    assert serialized1 == serialized2
+    assert deserialized1 == deserialized2 == expected_out