diff --git a/packages/crypto/package.json b/packages/crypto/package.json
index b30edb1a..e626f82d 100644
--- a/packages/crypto/package.json
+++ b/packages/crypto/package.json
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
     "elliptic": "^6.4.0",
     "js-sha3": "^0.8.0",
     "libsodium-wrappers": "^0.7.6",
-    "pbkdf2": "^3.0.16",
+    "pbkdf2": "^3.1.1",
     "ripemd160": "^2.0.2",
     "sha.js": "^2.4.11",
     "type-tagger": "^1.0.0",
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
     "@types/bn.js": "^4.11.6",
     "@types/elliptic": "^6.4.12",
     "@types/libsodium-wrappers": "^0.7.7",
-    "@types/pbkdf2": "^3.0.0",
+    "@types/pbkdf2": "^3.1.0",
     "@types/ripemd160": "^2.0.0",
     "@types/sha.js": "^2.4.0",
     "@types/unorm": "^1.3.27"
diff --git a/packages/crypto/src/bip39.ts b/packages/crypto/src/bip39.ts
index f16d6dea..ac24feee 100644
--- a/packages/crypto/src/bip39.ts
+++ b/packages/crypto/src/bip39.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { fromHex, toHex } from "@cosmjs/encoding";
+import { fromHex, toHex, toUtf8 } from "@cosmjs/encoding";
 import * as bip39 from "bip39";
 import { pbkdf2 } from "pbkdf2";
 import * as unorm from "unorm";
@@ -23,13 +23,13 @@ export class Bip39 {
   public static async mnemonicToSeed(mnemonic: EnglishMnemonic, password?: string): Promise<Uint8Array> {
     // reimplementation of bip39.mnemonicToSeed using the asynchronous
     // interface of https://www.npmjs.com/package/pbkdf2
-    const mnemonicBytes = Buffer.from(unorm.nfkd(mnemonic.toString()), "utf8");
+    const mnemonicBytes = toUtf8(unorm.nfkd(mnemonic.toString()));
     const salt = "mnemonic" + (password ? unorm.nfkd(password) : "");
-    const saltBytes = Buffer.from(salt, "utf8");
+    const saltBytes = toUtf8(salt);
     return this.pbkdf2(mnemonicBytes, saltBytes, 2048, 64, "sha512");
   }
 
-  // convert pbkdf2's calllback interface to Promise interface
+  // convert pbkdf2's callback interface to Promise interface
   private static async pbkdf2(
     secret: Uint8Array,
     salt: Uint8Array,
@@ -38,8 +38,7 @@ export class Bip39 {
     digest: string,
   ): Promise<Uint8Array> {
     return new Promise<any>((resolve, reject) => {
-      // TODO: Patch @types/pbkdf2 to allow Uint8Array as secret and salt argument
-      pbkdf2(Buffer.from(secret), Buffer.from(salt), iterations, keylen, digest, (err, derivedKey) => {
+      pbkdf2(secret, salt, iterations, keylen, digest, (err, derivedKey) => {
         if (err) {
           reject(err);
         } else {
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 071ef8c1..f6bf6eef 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -1327,10 +1327,10 @@
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/pako/-/pako-1.0.1.tgz#33b237f3c9aff44d0f82fe63acffa4a365ef4a61"
   integrity sha512-GdZbRSJ3Cv5fiwT6I0SQ3ckeN2PWNqxd26W9Z2fCK1tGrrasGy4puvNFtnddqH9UJFMQYXxEuuB7B8UK+LLwSg==
 
-"@types/pbkdf2@^3.0.0":
-  version "3.0.0"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/pbkdf2/-/pbkdf2-3.0.0.tgz#5d9ca5f12a78a08cc89ad72883ad4a30af359229"
-  integrity sha512-6J6MHaAlBJC/eVMy9jOwj9oHaprfutukfW/Dyt0NEnpQ/6HN6YQrpvLwzWdWDeWZIdenjGHlbYDzyEODO5Z+2Q==
+"@types/pbkdf2@^3.1.0":
+  version "3.1.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/pbkdf2/-/pbkdf2-3.1.0.tgz#039a0e9b67da0cdc4ee5dab865caa6b267bb66b1"
+  integrity sha512-Cf63Rv7jCQ0LaL8tNXmEyqTHuIJxRdlS5vMh1mj5voN4+QFhVZnlZruezqpWYDiJ8UTzhP0VmeLXCmBk66YrMQ==
   dependencies:
     "@types/node" "*"
 
@@ -6560,10 +6560,10 @@ path-type@^3.0.0:
   dependencies:
     pify "^3.0.0"
 
-pbkdf2@^3.0.16, pbkdf2@^3.0.3, pbkdf2@^3.0.9:
-  version "3.0.17"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/pbkdf2/-/pbkdf2-3.0.17.tgz#976c206530617b14ebb32114239f7b09336e93a6"
-  integrity sha512-U/il5MsrZp7mGg3mSQfn742na2T+1/vHDCG5/iTI3X9MKUuYUZVLQhyRsg06mCgDBTd57TxzgZt7P+fYfjRLtA==
+pbkdf2@^3.0.3, pbkdf2@^3.0.9, pbkdf2@^3.1.1:
+  version "3.1.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/pbkdf2/-/pbkdf2-3.1.1.tgz#cb8724b0fada984596856d1a6ebafd3584654b94"
+  integrity sha512-4Ejy1OPxi9f2tt1rRV7Go7zmfDQ+ZectEQz3VGUQhgq62HtIRPDyG/JtnwIxs6x3uNMwo2V7q1fMvKjb+Tnpqg==
   dependencies:
     create-hash "^1.1.2"
     create-hmac "^1.1.4"