diff --git a/lib/primitives/merkleblock.js b/lib/primitives/merkleblock.js
index 724f5ca6..47b93543 100644
--- a/lib/primitives/merkleblock.js
+++ b/lib/primitives/merkleblock.js
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ MerkleBlock.prototype.extractTree = function extractTree() {
   var indexes = [];
   var map = {};
   var failed = false;
-  var hashes = [];
+  var hashes = this.hashes;
   var flags = this.flags;
   var totalTX = this.totalTX;
   var height = 0;
@@ -253,15 +253,12 @@ MerkleBlock.prototype.extractTree = function extractTree() {
   if (totalTX > consensus.MAX_BLOCK_SIZE / 60)
     throw new Error('Too many transactions.');
 
-  if (this.hashes.length > totalTX)
+  if (hashes.length > totalTX)
     throw new Error('Too many hashes.');
 
-  if (flags.length * 8 < this.hashes.length)
+  if (flags.length * 8 < hashes.length)
     throw new Error('Flags too small.');
 
-  for (p = 0; p < this.hashes.length; p++)
-    hashes.push(this.hashes[p]);
-
   while (width(height) > 1)
     height++;