diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6b38531..0b3d08f 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -31,20 +31,19 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "bl": "^4.0.0",
     "debug": "^4.1.1",
-    "it-buffer": "^0.1.1",
-    "it-length-prefixed": "^3.0.0",
+    "it-length-prefixed": "^3.0.1",
     "it-pair": "^1.0.0",
     "it-pb-rpc": "^0.1.4",
     "it-pipe": "^1.1.0",
-    "libp2p-crypto": "^0.17.1",
+    "libp2p-crypto": "^0.17.3",
     "libp2p-interfaces": "^0.2.1",
     "multiaddr": "^7.2.1",
     "multihashing-async": "^0.8.0",
     "peer-id": "^0.13.6",
-    "protons": "^1.1.0"
+    "protons": "^1.0.2"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
-    "aegir": "^21.0.2",
+    "aegir": "^21.4.2",
     "benchmark": "^2.1.4",
     "chai": "^4.2.0",
     "dirty-chai": "^2.0.1",
diff --git a/src/etm.js b/src/etm.js
index 6645bba..e51dbc6 100644
--- a/src/etm.js
+++ b/src/etm.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const { InvalidCryptoTransmissionError } = require('libp2p-interfaces/src/crypto
 exports.createBoxStream = (cipher, mac) => {
   return async function * (source) {
     for await (const chunk of source) {
-      const data = await cipher.encrypt(chunk)
+      const data = await cipher.encrypt(BufferList.isBufferList(chunk) ? chunk.slice() : chunk)
       const digest = await mac.digest(data)
       yield new BufferList([data, digest])
     }
diff --git a/src/handshake/crypto.js b/src/handshake/crypto.js
index 91cd16c..73120f0 100644
--- a/src/handshake/crypto.js
+++ b/src/handshake/crypto.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict'
 
+const { Buffer } = require('buffer')
 const PeerId = require('peer-id')
 const crypto = require('libp2p-crypto')
 const debug = require('debug')
diff --git a/src/handshake/finish.js b/src/handshake/finish.js
index f356169..2997104 100644
--- a/src/handshake/finish.js
+++ b/src/handshake/finish.js
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ const pipe = require('it-pipe')
 const lp = require('it-length-prefixed')
 const Wrap = require('it-pb-rpc')
 const { int32BEEncode, int32BEDecode } = lp
-const ensureBuffer = require('it-buffer')
 
 const etm = require('../etm')
 const crypto = require('./crypto')
@@ -26,12 +25,10 @@ module.exports = async function finish (state, wrapped) {
 
   pipe(
     secure, // this is FROM the user
-    ensureBuffer,
     etm.createBoxStream(proto.local.cipher, proto.local.mac),
     lp.encode({ lengthEncoder: int32BEEncode }),
     network, // and gets piped INTO and FROM the network
     lp.decode({ lengthDecoder: int32BEDecode }),
-    ensureBuffer,
     etm.createUnboxStream(proto.remote.cipher, proto.remote.mac),
     secure // and gets piped TO the user
   )
diff --git a/src/support.js b/src/support.js
index ca7ff15..5b1398b 100644
--- a/src/support.js
+++ b/src/support.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict'
 
+const { Buffer } = require('buffer')
 const mh = require('multihashing-async')
 const crypto = require('libp2p-crypto')