diff --git a/lib/bcoin/merkleblock.js b/lib/bcoin/merkleblock.js
index 11c41490..7105e27d 100644
--- a/lib/bcoin/merkleblock.js
+++ b/lib/bcoin/merkleblock.js
@@ -355,8 +355,6 @@ MerkleBlock.prototype.fromRaw = function fromRaw(data) {
 
   hashCount = p.readVarint();
 
-  this.hashes = [];
-
   for (i = 0; i < hashCount; i++)
     this.hashes.push(p.readHash('hex'));