diff --git a/lib/bcoin/txdb.js b/lib/bcoin/txdb.js
index ee5082c5..8f75fa4c 100644
--- a/lib/bcoin/txdb.js
+++ b/lib/bcoin/txdb.js
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ TXPool.prototype._add = function add(tx, callback, force) {
               some = false;
 
               try {
-                orphans = JSON.parse(new Buffer(orphans, 'ascii'));
+                orphans = JSON.parse(orphans.toString('ascii'));
               } catch (e) {
                 return done(e);
               }