diff --git a/packages/bcp/src/cosmwasmconnection.ts b/packages/bcp/src/cosmwasmconnection.ts
index 5640c72f..fbeedbf2 100644
--- a/packages/bcp/src/cosmwasmconnection.ts
+++ b/packages/bcp/src/cosmwasmconnection.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ import { Caip5 } from "./caip5";
 import { decodeAmount, parseTxsResponse } from "./decode";
 import { accountToNonce, BankToken, Erc20Token } from "./types";
 
-const { toHex } = Encoding;
+const { fromAscii, toHex } = Encoding;
 
 interface ChainData {
   readonly chainId: ChainId;
@@ -168,9 +168,8 @@ export class CosmWasmConnection implements BlockchainConnection {
       this.erc20Tokens.map(
         async (erc20): Promise<Amount> => {
           const queryMsg = { balance: { address: address } };
-          const response = JSON.parse(
-            await this.restClient.queryContractSmart(erc20.contractAddress, queryMsg),
-          );
+          const smart = await this.restClient.queryContractSmart(erc20.contractAddress, queryMsg);
+          const response = JSON.parse(fromAscii(smart));
           const normalizedBalance = new BN(response.balance).toString();
           return {
             fractionalDigits: erc20.fractionalDigits,
diff --git a/packages/sdk/src/restclient.spec.ts b/packages/sdk/src/restclient.spec.ts
index 53312d5e..3cb01de3 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/src/restclient.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk/src/restclient.spec.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import {
   StdTx,
 } from "./types";
 
-const { fromBase64, fromHex, toAscii, toBase64, toHex } = Encoding;
+const { fromAscii, fromBase64, fromHex, toAscii, toBase64, toHex } = Encoding;
 
 const httpUrl = "http://localhost:1317";
 const defaultNetworkId = "testing";
@@ -496,9 +496,10 @@ describe("RestClient", () => {
         const state = await client.getAllContractState(contractAddress!);
         expect(state.length).toEqual(1);
         const data = state[0];
-        expect(data.key.toLowerCase()).toEqual(toHex(expectedKey));
-        expect((data.val as any).verifier).toBeDefined();
-        expect((data.val as any).beneficiary).toBeDefined();
+        expect(data.key).toEqual(expectedKey);
+        const value = JSON.parse(fromAscii(data.val));
+        expect(value.verifier).toBeDefined();
+        expect(value.beneficiary).toBeDefined();
 
         // bad address is empty array
         const noContractState = await client.getAllContractState(noContract);
@@ -509,10 +510,11 @@ describe("RestClient", () => {
         pendingWithoutCosmos();
 
         // query by one key
-        const model = await client.queryContractRaw(contractAddress!, expectedKey);
-        expect(model).not.toBeNull();
-        expect((model as any).verifier).toBeDefined();
-        expect((model as any).beneficiary).toBeDefined();
+        const raw = await client.queryContractRaw(contractAddress!, expectedKey);
+        assert(raw, "must get result");
+        const model = JSON.parse(fromAscii(raw));
+        expect(model.verifier).toBeDefined();
+        expect(model.beneficiary).toBeDefined();
 
         // missing key is null
         const missing = await client.queryContractRaw(contractAddress!, fromHex("cafe0dad"));
@@ -528,7 +530,7 @@ describe("RestClient", () => {
 
         // we can query the verifier properly
         const verifier = await client.queryContractSmart(contractAddress!, { verifier: {} });
-        expect(verifier).toEqual(faucet.address);
+        expect(fromAscii(verifier)).toEqual(faucet.address);
 
         // invalid query syntax throws an error
         await client.queryContractSmart(contractAddress!, { nosuchkey: {} }).then(
diff --git a/packages/sdk/src/restclient.ts b/packages/sdk/src/restclient.ts
index 14809dae..14857bdb 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/src/restclient.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk/src/restclient.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,17 @@
 import { Encoding } from "@iov/encoding";
 import axios, { AxiosError, AxiosInstance } from "axios";
 
-import { AminoTx, CodeInfo, ContractInfo, CosmosSdkAccount, isAminoStdTx, StdTx, WasmData } from "./types";
+import {
+  AminoTx,
+  CodeInfo,
+  ContractInfo,
+  CosmosSdkAccount,
+  isAminoStdTx,
+  Model,
+  parseWasmData,
+  StdTx,
+  WasmData,
+} from "./types";
 
 const { fromBase64, fromUtf8, toHex, toUtf8 } = Encoding;
 
@@ -97,6 +107,11 @@ interface GetCodeResult {
   readonly code: string;
 }
 
+interface SmartQueryResponse {
+  // base64 encoded response
+  readonly smart: string;
+}
+
 type RestClientResponse =
   | NodeInfoResponse
   | BlocksResponse
@@ -306,32 +321,31 @@ export class RestClient {
 
   // Returns all contract state.
   // This is an empty array if no such contract, or contract has no data.
-  public async getAllContractState(address: string): Promise<readonly WasmData[]> {
+  public async getAllContractState(address: string): Promise<readonly Model[]> {
     const path = `/wasm/contract/${address}/state`;
-    const responseData = await this.get(path);
-    return parseWasmResponse(responseData as WasmResponse);
+    const responseData = (await this.get(path)) as WasmResponse<WasmData[]>;
+    const r = unwrapWasmResponse(responseData);
+    return r ? r.map(parseWasmData) : [];
   }
 
   // Returns the data at the key if present (unknown decoded json),
   // or null if no data at this (contract address, key) pair
-  public async queryContractRaw(address: string, key: Uint8Array): Promise<unknown | null> {
+  public async queryContractRaw(address: string, key: Uint8Array): Promise<Uint8Array | null> {
     const hexKey = toHex(key);
     const path = `/wasm/contract/${address}/raw/${hexKey}?encoding=hex`;
-    const responseData = await this.get(path);
-    const data: readonly WasmData[] = parseWasmResponse(responseData as WasmResponse);
-    return data.length === 0 ? null : data[0].val;
+    const responseData = (await this.get(path)) as WasmResponse<WasmData[]>;
+    const data = unwrapWasmResponse(responseData);
+    return data.length === 0 ? null : fromBase64(data[0].val);
   }
 
   // Makes a "smart query" on the contract, returns response verbatim (json.RawMessage)
   // Throws error if no such contract or invalid query format
-  public async queryContractSmart(address: string, query: object): Promise<string> {
+  public async queryContractSmart(address: string, query: object): Promise<Uint8Array> {
     const encoded = toHex(toUtf8(JSON.stringify(query)));
     const path = `/wasm/contract/${address}/smart/${encoded}?encoding=hex`;
-    const responseData = (await this.get(path)) as WasmResponse;
-    if (isWasmError(responseData)) {
-      throw new Error(responseData.error);
-    }
+    const responseData = (await this.get(path)) as WasmResponse<SmartQueryResponse>;
+    const result = unwrapWasmResponse(responseData);
     // no extra parse here for now, see https://github.com/confio/cosmwasm/issues/144
-    return responseData.result;
+    return fromBase64(result.smart);
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/sdk/src/types.ts b/packages/sdk/src/types.ts
index d9ac9998..c7fcfe0f 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk/src/types.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+import { Encoding } from "@iov/encoding";
+
+const { fromBase64, fromHex } = Encoding;
+
 // We will move all needed *interfaces* from amino-js here
 // This means bcp can just import them from here (if needed at all)
 export interface Tx {
@@ -190,6 +194,19 @@ export interface ContractInfo {
 export interface WasmData {
   // key is hex-encoded
   readonly key: string;
-  // value can be any decoded json, often an object but can be anything
-  readonly val: unknown;
+  // value is base64 encoded
+  readonly val: string;
+}
+
+// Model is a parsed WasmData object
+export interface Model {
+  readonly key: Uint8Array;
+  readonly val: Uint8Array;
+}
+
+export function parseWasmData({ key, val }: WasmData): Model {
+  return {
+    key: fromHex(key),
+    val: fromBase64(val),
+  };
 }
diff --git a/packages/sdk/types/restclient.d.ts b/packages/sdk/types/restclient.d.ts
index ad5f735d..b83f731a 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/types/restclient.d.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk/types/restclient.d.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { AminoTx, CodeInfo, ContractInfo, CosmosSdkAccount, StdTx, WasmData } from "./types";
+import { AminoTx, CodeInfo, ContractInfo, CosmosSdkAccount, Model, StdTx } from "./types";
 interface NodeInfo {
   readonly network: string;
 }
@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ export declare class RestClient {
   listContractAddresses(): Promise<readonly string[]>;
   listContractsByCodeId(id: number): Promise<readonly ContractInfo[]>;
   getContractInfo(address: string): Promise<ContractInfo>;
-  getAllContractState(address: string): Promise<readonly WasmData[]>;
-  queryContractRaw(address: string, key: Uint8Array): Promise<unknown | null>;
-  queryContractSmart(address: string, query: object): Promise<string>;
+  getAllContractState(address: string): Promise<readonly Model[]>;
+  queryContractRaw(address: string, key: Uint8Array): Promise<Uint8Array | null>;
+  queryContractSmart(address: string, query: object): Promise<Uint8Array>;
 }
 export {};
diff --git a/packages/sdk/types/types.d.ts b/packages/sdk/types/types.d.ts
index 20b65f4d..9d61f398 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/types/types.d.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk/types/types.d.ts
@@ -141,6 +141,11 @@ export interface ContractInfo {
 }
 export interface WasmData {
   readonly key: string;
-  readonly val: unknown;
+  readonly val: string;
 }
+export interface Model {
+  readonly key: Uint8Array;
+  readonly val: Uint8Array;
+}
+export declare function parseWasmData({ key, val }: WasmData): Model;
 export {};
diff --git a/scripts/cosm/env b/scripts/cosm/env
index b24084da..70eb1944 100644
--- a/scripts/cosm/env
+++ b/scripts/cosm/env
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Choose from https://hub.docker.com/r/cosmwasm/wasmd-demo/tags
 REPOSITORY="cosmwasm/wasmd-demo"
-VERSION="v0.0.5"
+VERSION="v0.6.0"
 
 CONTAINER_NAME="wasmd"