diff --git a/src/lib/fetch.ts b/src/lib/fetch.ts
index b23ef3659a..3f018550da 100644
--- a/src/lib/fetch.ts
+++ b/src/lib/fetch.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ export {
   setGraphqlEndpoint,
   sendZkappQuery,
   sendZkapp,
+  removeJsonQuotes,
 };
+
 export { Account };
 
 let defaultGraphqlEndpoint = 'none';
@@ -574,11 +576,8 @@ function sendZkappQuery(json: string) {
 
 // removes the quotes on JSON keys
 function removeJsonQuotes(json: string) {
-  // source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/65443215
   let cleaned = JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(json), null, 2);
-  return cleaned.replace(/^[\t ]*"[^:\n\r]+(?<!\\)":/gm, (match) =>
-    match.replace(/"/g, '')
-  );
+  return cleaned.replace(/\"(\S+)\"\s*:/gm, '$1:');
 }
 
 // TODO it seems we're not actually catching most errors here
diff --git a/src/lib/fetch.unit-test.ts b/src/lib/fetch.unit-test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..49f0c22120
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/fetch.unit-test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+import { shutdown } from '../index.js';
+import * as Fetch from './fetch.js';
+import { expect } from 'expect';
+
+console.log('testing regex helpers');
+
+let input, actual, expected;
+
+input = `{
+  "array": [
+    {"data": "string with \\"escaped quotes\\": 1"}, { "otherdata": "otherstrin\\"g"}]
+}`;
+
+expected = `{
+  array: [
+    {
+      data: "string with \\"escaped quotes\\": 1"
+    },
+    {
+      otherdata: "otherstrin\\"g"
+    }
+  ]
+}`;
+
+actual = Fetch.removeJsonQuotes(input);
+expect(actual).toEqual(expected);
+
+input = `{
+  "array": [
+    {
+      "data"     : "x"
+    },
+    {
+      "data":             1},{
+      "data": {
+               "otherData":   "x"     
+      }
+    }
+  ]
+}`;
+
+expected = `{
+  array: [
+    {
+      data: "x"
+    },
+    {
+      data: 1
+    },
+    {
+      data: {
+        otherData: "x"
+      }
+    }
+  ]
+}`;
+
+actual = Fetch.removeJsonQuotes(input);
+expect(actual).toEqual(expected);
+
+input = `{ 
+  "FirstName" :"abc",  
+  "Email" : "a@a.com",
+  "Id" : "1",
+  "Phone" : "1234567890",
+  "Date" : "2 May 2016 23:59:59"
+}`;
+
+expected = `{
+  FirstName: "abc",
+  Email: "a@a.com",
+  Id: "1",
+  Phone: "1234567890",
+  Date: "2 May 2016 23:59:59"
+}`;
+
+actual = Fetch.removeJsonQuotes(input);
+expect(actual).toEqual(expected);
+
+input = `{ 
+"FirstName":"abc",  
+"Email" : "a@a.com",
+"Id" :      "1",
+"Phone" :"1234567890",
+"Date":
+  "2 May 2016 23:59:59"
+}`;
+
+expected = `{
+  FirstName: "abc",
+  Email: "a@a.com",
+  Id: "1",
+  Phone: "1234567890",
+  Date: "2 May 2016 23:59:59"
+}`;
+actual = Fetch.removeJsonQuotes(input);
+
+expect(actual).toEqual(expected);
+
+input = `{ 
+  "First-Name":"abc",  
+  "Email" : "a@a.com",
+  "Id" :      "1",
+  "Phone" :"1234567890",
+  "Date":
+    "2 May 2016 23:59:59"
+}`;
+
+expected = `{
+  First-Name: "abc",
+  Email: "a@a.com",
+  Id: "1",
+  Phone: "1234567890",
+  Date: "2 May 2016 23:59:59"
+}`;
+
+actual = Fetch.removeJsonQuotes(input);
+
+expect(actual).toEqual(expected);
+
+console.log('regex tests complete 🎉');
+shutdown();