diff --git a/.eslintrc.js b/.eslintrc.js
index 8576e84b..ae6c05b0 100644
--- a/.eslintrc.js
+++ b/.eslintrc.js
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ module.exports = {
     "no-console": ["warn", { allow: ["error", "info", "warn"] }],
     "no-param-reassign": "warn",
     "no-shadow": "warn",
+    "no-unused-vars": "off", // disabled in favour of @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars, see https://github.com/typescript-eslint/typescript-eslint/blob/master/packages/eslint-plugin/docs/rules/no-unused-vars.md
     "prefer-const": "warn",
     "radix": ["warn", "always"],
     "spaced-comment": ["warn", "always", { line: { markers: ["/ <reference"] } }],
diff --git a/packages/cosmwasm/src/cosmwasmclient.ts b/packages/cosmwasm/src/cosmwasmclient.ts
index e8a17b4d..3ab253d7 100644
--- a/packages/cosmwasm/src/cosmwasmclient.ts
+++ b/packages/cosmwasm/src/cosmwasmclient.ts
@@ -199,8 +199,8 @@ export class CosmWasmClient {
    */
   public async getIdentifier(tx: CosmosSdkTx): Promise<string> {
     // We consult the REST API because we don't have a local amino encoder
-    const bytes = await this.restClient.encodeTx(tx);
-    const hash = new Sha256(bytes).digest();
+    const response = await this.restClient.encodeTx(tx);
+    const hash = new Sha256(fromBase64(response.tx)).digest();
     return toHex(hash).toUpperCase();
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/cosmwasm/src/index.ts b/packages/cosmwasm/src/index.ts
index 53b22ee4..801e29f9 100644
--- a/packages/cosmwasm/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cosmwasm/src/index.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import * as logs from "./logs";
 export { logs };
 
-export { RestClient, TxsResponse } from "./restclient";
+export { RestClient } from "./restclient";
 export {
   Account,
   Block,
diff --git a/packages/cosmwasm/src/restclient.spec.ts b/packages/cosmwasm/src/restclient.spec.ts
index 39a2a765..955565d3 100644
--- a/packages/cosmwasm/src/restclient.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/cosmwasm/src/restclient.spec.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import {
   StdFee,
   StdSignature,
   StdTx,
+  TxsResponse,
 } from "@cosmjs/sdk38";
 import { assert, sleep } from "@cosmjs/utils";
 import { ReadonlyDate } from "readonly-date";
@@ -28,9 +29,8 @@ import {
   MsgInstantiateContract,
   MsgStoreCode,
 } from "./msgs";
-import { RestClient, TxsResponse } from "./restclient";
+import { RestClient } from "./restclient";
 import { SigningCosmWasmClient } from "./signingcosmwasmclient";
-import cosmoshub from "./testdata/cosmoshub.json";
 import {
   alice,
   bech32AddressMatcher,
@@ -746,14 +746,6 @@ describe("RestClient", () => {
     });
   });
 
-  describe("encodeTx", () => {
-    it("works for cosmoshub example", async () => {
-      pendingWithoutWasmd();
-      const client = new RestClient(wasmd.endpoint);
-      expect(await client.encodeTx(cosmoshub.tx)).toEqual(fromBase64(cosmoshub.tx_data));
-    });
-  });
-
   describe("postTx", () => {
     it("can send tokens", async () => {
       pendingWithoutWasmd();
diff --git a/packages/cosmwasm/src/restclient.ts b/packages/cosmwasm/src/restclient.ts
index 8da81232..06931bfd 100644
--- a/packages/cosmwasm/src/restclient.ts
+++ b/packages/cosmwasm/src/restclient.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { fromBase64, fromUtf8, toHex, toUtf8 } from "@cosmjs/encoding";
-import { BroadcastMode, CosmosSdkTx, RestClient as BaseRestClient } from "@cosmjs/sdk38";
+import { BroadcastMode, RestClient as BaseRestClient } from "@cosmjs/sdk38";
 
 import { JsonObject, Model, parseWasmData, WasmData } from "./types";
 
@@ -17,23 +17,6 @@ interface WasmError {
   readonly error: string;
 }
 
-export interface TxsResponse {
-  readonly height: string;
-  readonly txhash: string;
-  /** 🤷‍♂️ */
-  readonly codespace?: string;
-  /** Falsy when transaction execution succeeded. Contains error code on error. */
-  readonly code?: number;
-  readonly raw_log: string;
-  readonly logs?: object;
-  readonly tx: CosmosSdkTx;
-  /** The gas limit as set by the user */
-  readonly gas_wanted?: string;
-  /** The gas used by the execution */
-  readonly gas_used?: string;
-  readonly timestamp: string;
-}
-
 export interface CodeInfo {
   readonly id: number;
   /** Bech32 account address */
diff --git a/packages/cosmwasm/types/index.d.ts b/packages/cosmwasm/types/index.d.ts
index 047f950e..85de7876 100644
--- a/packages/cosmwasm/types/index.d.ts
+++ b/packages/cosmwasm/types/index.d.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import * as logs from "./logs";
 export { logs };
-export { RestClient, TxsResponse } from "./restclient";
+export { RestClient } from "./restclient";
 export {
   Account,
   Block,
diff --git a/packages/cosmwasm/types/restclient.d.ts b/packages/cosmwasm/types/restclient.d.ts
index 7862f463..bfee9ec9 100644
--- a/packages/cosmwasm/types/restclient.d.ts
+++ b/packages/cosmwasm/types/restclient.d.ts
@@ -1,21 +1,5 @@
-import { BroadcastMode, CosmosSdkTx, RestClient as BaseRestClient } from "@cosmjs/sdk38";
+import { BroadcastMode, RestClient as BaseRestClient } from "@cosmjs/sdk38";
 import { JsonObject, Model } from "./types";
-export interface TxsResponse {
-  readonly height: string;
-  readonly txhash: string;
-  /** 🤷‍♂️ */
-  readonly codespace?: string;
-  /** Falsy when transaction execution succeeded. Contains error code on error. */
-  readonly code?: number;
-  readonly raw_log: string;
-  readonly logs?: object;
-  readonly tx: CosmosSdkTx;
-  /** The gas limit as set by the user */
-  readonly gas_wanted?: string;
-  /** The gas used by the execution */
-  readonly gas_used?: string;
-  readonly timestamp: string;
-}
 export interface CodeInfo {
   readonly id: number;
   /** Bech32 account address */
diff --git a/packages/sdk38/src/cosmosclient.ts b/packages/sdk38/src/cosmosclient.ts
index 5b43dc97..fc6fd5b5 100644
--- a/packages/sdk38/src/cosmosclient.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk38/src/cosmosclient.ts
@@ -181,8 +181,8 @@ export class CosmosClient {
    */
   public async getIdentifier(tx: CosmosSdkTx): Promise<string> {
     // We consult the REST API because we don't have a local amino encoder
-    const bytes = await this.restClient.encodeTx(tx);
-    const hash = new Sha256(bytes).digest();
+    const response = await this.restClient.encodeTx(tx);
+    const hash = new Sha256(fromBase64(response.tx)).digest();
     return toHex(hash).toUpperCase();
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/sdk38/src/index.ts b/packages/sdk38/src/index.ts
index 50ca53e3..332b6398 100644
--- a/packages/sdk38/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk38/src/index.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export {
   AuthAccountsResponse,
   BlockResponse,
   BroadcastMode,
+  EncodeTxResponse,
   PostTxsResponse,
   NodeInfoResponse,
   RestClient,
diff --git a/packages/sdk38/src/restclient.spec.ts b/packages/sdk38/src/restclient.spec.ts
index bdaea11a..f2544e1e 100644
--- a/packages/sdk38/src/restclient.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk38/src/restclient.spec.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 /* eslint-disable @typescript-eslint/camelcase */
-import { fromBase64 } from "@cosmjs/encoding";
 import { assert, sleep } from "@cosmjs/utils";
 import { ReadonlyDate } from "readonly-date";
 
@@ -523,7 +522,12 @@ describe("RestClient", () => {
     it("works for cosmoshub example", async () => {
       pendingWithoutWasmd();
       const client = new RestClient(wasmd.endpoint);
-      expect(await client.encodeTx(cosmoshub.tx)).toEqual(fromBase64(cosmoshub.tx_data));
+      const response = await client.encodeTx(cosmoshub.tx);
+      expect(response).toEqual(
+        jasmine.objectContaining({
+          tx: cosmoshub.tx_data,
+        }),
+      );
     });
   });
 
diff --git a/packages/sdk38/src/restclient.ts b/packages/sdk38/src/restclient.ts
index 7404c807..0cf8e62a 100644
--- a/packages/sdk38/src/restclient.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk38/src/restclient.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import { fromBase64 } from "@cosmjs/encoding";
 import { isNonNullObject } from "@cosmjs/utils";
 import axios, { AxiosError, AxiosInstance } from "axios";
 
@@ -147,8 +146,9 @@ export interface PostTxsResponse {
   readonly gas_used?: string;
 }
 
-interface EncodeTxResponse {
-  // base64-encoded amino-binary encoded representation
+/** A reponse from the /txs/encode endpoint */
+export interface EncodeTxResponse {
+  /** base64-encoded amino-binary encoded representation */
   readonly tx: string;
 }
 
@@ -289,12 +289,12 @@ export class RestClient {
   }
 
   /** returns the amino-encoding of the transaction performed by the server */
-  public async encodeTx(tx: CosmosSdkTx): Promise<Uint8Array> {
+  public async encodeTx(tx: CosmosSdkTx): Promise<EncodeTxResponse> {
     const responseData = await this.post("/txs/encode", tx);
     if (!responseData.tx) {
       throw new Error("Unexpected response data format");
     }
-    return fromBase64((responseData as EncodeTxResponse).tx);
+    return responseData as EncodeTxResponse;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/packages/sdk38/types/index.d.ts b/packages/sdk38/types/index.d.ts
index 7a9de872..26f37186 100644
--- a/packages/sdk38/types/index.d.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk38/types/index.d.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ export {
   AuthAccountsResponse,
   BlockResponse,
   BroadcastMode,
+  EncodeTxResponse,
   PostTxsResponse,
   NodeInfoResponse,
   RestClient,
diff --git a/packages/sdk38/types/restclient.d.ts b/packages/sdk38/types/restclient.d.ts
index d27863db..830457cb 100644
--- a/packages/sdk38/types/restclient.d.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk38/types/restclient.d.ts
@@ -125,6 +125,11 @@ export interface PostTxsResponse {
   /** The gas used by the execution */
   readonly gas_used?: string;
 }
+/** A reponse from the /txs/encode endpoint */
+export interface EncodeTxResponse {
+  /** base64-encoded amino-binary encoded representation */
+  readonly tx: string;
+}
 /**
  * The mode used to send transaction
  *
@@ -162,7 +167,7 @@ export declare class RestClient {
   txById(id: string): Promise<TxsResponse>;
   txsQuery(query: string): Promise<SearchTxsResponse>;
   /** returns the amino-encoding of the transaction performed by the server */
-  encodeTx(tx: CosmosSdkTx): Promise<Uint8Array>;
+  encodeTx(tx: CosmosSdkTx): Promise<EncodeTxResponse>;
   /**
    * Broadcasts a signed transaction to into the transaction pool.
    * Depending on the RestClient's broadcast mode, this might or might