diff --git a/beacon_chain/utils/boolean-bitfield/src/lib.rs b/beacon_chain/utils/boolean-bitfield/src/lib.rs
index e0adc64dd..98518d70c 100644
--- a/beacon_chain/utils/boolean-bitfield/src/lib.rs
+++ b/beacon_chain/utils/boolean-bitfield/src/lib.rs
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@ extern crate ssz;
 
 use bit_vec::BitVec;
 
+use std::cmp;
 use std::default;
 
 /// A BooleanBitfield represents a set of booleans compactly stored as a vector of bits.
 /// The BooleanBitfield is given a fixed size during construction. Reads outside of the current size return an out-of-bounds error. Writes outside of the current size expand the size of the set.
-#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct BooleanBitfield(BitVec);
 
 /// Error represents some reason a request against a bitfield was not satisfied
@@ -23,6 +24,10 @@ impl BooleanBitfield {
         Default::default()
     }
 
+    pub fn with_capacity(initial_len: usize) -> Self {
+        Self::from_elem(initial_len, false)
+    }
+
     /// Create a new bitfield with the given length `initial_len` and all values set to `bit`.
     pub fn from_elem(inital_len: usize, bit: bool) -> Self {
         Self {
@@ -100,25 +105,18 @@ impl default::Default for BooleanBitfield {
     }
 }
 
-// borrowed from bit_vec crate
-fn reverse_bits(byte: u8) -> u8 {
-    let mut result = 0;
-    for i in 0..8 {
-        result = result | ((byte >> i) & 1) << (7 - i);
+impl cmp::PartialEq for BooleanBitfield {
+    /// Determines equality by comparing the `ssz` encoding of the two candidates.
+    /// This method ensures that the presence of high-order (empty) bits in the highest byte do not exclude equality when they are in fact representing the same information.
+    fn eq(&self, other: &Self) -> bool {
+        ssz::ssz_encode(self) == ssz::ssz_encode(other)
     }
-    result
 }
 
 impl ssz::Encodable for BooleanBitfield {
     // ssz_append encodes Self according to the `ssz` spec.
-    // Note that we have to flip the endianness of the encoding with `reverse_bits` to account for an implementation detail of `bit-vec` crate.
     fn ssz_append(&self, s: &mut ssz::SszStream) {
-        let bytes: Vec<u8> = self
-            .to_bytes()
-            .iter()
-            .map(|&byte| reverse_bits(byte))
-            .collect();
-        s.append_vec(&bytes);
+        s.append_vec(&self.to_bytes())
     }
 }
 
@@ -134,10 +132,11 @@ impl ssz::Decodable for BooleanBitfield {
         } else {
             let bytes = &bytes[(index + 4)..(index + len + 4)];
 
-            let mut field = BooleanBitfield::from_elem(0, false);
+            let count = len * 8;
+            let mut field = BooleanBitfield::with_capacity(count);
             for (byte_index, byte) in bytes.iter().enumerate() {
                 for i in 0..8 {
-                    let bit = byte & (1 << i);
+                    let bit = byte & (128 >> i);
                     if bit != 0 {
                         field.set(8 * byte_index + i, true);
                     }
@@ -153,7 +152,7 @@ impl ssz::Decodable for BooleanBitfield {
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
-    use ssz::SszStream;
+    use ssz::{ssz_encode, Decodable, SszStream};
 
     #[test]
     fn test_new_bitfield() {
@@ -317,28 +316,47 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn test_ssz_encode() {
-        let field = BooleanBitfield::from_elem(5, true);
+        let field = create_test_bitfield();
 
         let mut stream = SszStream::new();
         stream.append(&field);
-        assert_eq!(stream.drain(), vec![0, 0, 0, 1, 31]);
+        assert_eq!(stream.drain(), vec![0, 0, 0, 2, 225, 192]);
 
         let field = BooleanBitfield::from_elem(18, true);
         let mut stream = SszStream::new();
         stream.append(&field);
-        assert_eq!(stream.drain(), vec![0, 0, 0, 3, 255, 255, 3]);
+        assert_eq!(stream.drain(), vec![0, 0, 0, 3, 255, 255, 192]);
+    }
+
+    fn create_test_bitfield() -> BooleanBitfield {
+        let count = 2 * 8;
+        let mut field = BooleanBitfield::with_capacity(count);
+
+        let indices = &[0, 1, 2, 7, 8, 9];
+        for &i in indices {
+            field.set(i, true);
+        }
+        field
     }
 
     #[test]
     fn test_ssz_decode() {
-        let encoded = vec![0, 0, 0, 1, 31];
+        let encoded = vec![0, 0, 0, 2, 225, 192];
         let (field, _): (BooleanBitfield, usize) = ssz::decode_ssz(&encoded, 0).unwrap();
-        let expected = BooleanBitfield::from_elem(5, true);
+        let expected = create_test_bitfield();
         assert_eq!(field, expected);
 
         let encoded = vec![0, 0, 0, 3, 255, 255, 3];
         let (field, _): (BooleanBitfield, usize) = ssz::decode_ssz(&encoded, 0).unwrap();
-        let expected = BooleanBitfield::from_elem(18, true);
+        let expected = BooleanBitfield::from_bytes(&[255, 255, 3]);
         assert_eq!(field, expected);
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_ssz_round_trip() {
+        let original = BooleanBitfield::from_bytes(&vec![18; 12][..]);
+        let ssz = ssz_encode(&original);
+        let (decoded, _) = BooleanBitfield::ssz_decode(&ssz, 0).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(original, decoded);
+    }
 }