diff --git a/onionr/communicator.py b/onionr/communicator.py
index 565b59cf..c70afc0f 100755
--- a/onionr/communicator.py
+++ b/onionr/communicator.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class OnionrCommunicate:
         #logger.fatal('Failed to start Bitcoin Node, exiting...')
         #exit(1)
 
-        blockProcessTimer = 0
+        blockProcessTimer = 19
         blockProcessAmount = 20
         highFailureTimer = 0
         highFailureRate = 10
@@ -561,6 +561,10 @@ class OnionrCommunicate:
                             blockMeta2 = {'type': ''}
                             pass
                         blockContent = blockContent[blockContent.rfind(b'}') + 1:]
+                        try:
+                            blockContent = blockContent.decode()
+                        except AttributeError:
+                            pass
                         
                         if not self.verifyPow(blockContent, blockMeta2):
                             logger.warn(i + " has invalid or insufficient proof of work token, deleting")
@@ -675,8 +679,13 @@ class OnionrCommunicate:
         except KeyError:
             return False
         dataLen = len(blockContent)
-        expectedHash = self._crypto.blake2bHash(metadata['powToken'] + blockContent)
+        print(blockContent)
+        expectedHash = self._crypto.blake2bHash(base64.b64decode(metadata['powToken']) + blockContent.encode())
         difficulty = 0
+        try:
+            expectedHash = expectedHash.decode()
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
         if metadata['powHash'] == expectedHash:
             difficulty = math.floor(dataLen/1000000)
 
@@ -689,6 +698,8 @@ class OnionrCommunicate:
             else:
                 logger.warn("Invalid token")
         else:
+            logger.warn('expected hash ' + expectedHash)
+            logger.warn('got hash ' + metadata['powHash'])
             logger.warn("Invalid token2")
 
         return retData
diff --git a/onionr/onionrcrypto.py b/onionr/onionrcrypto.py
index d420cbd4..487e192a 100644
--- a/onionr/onionrcrypto.py
+++ b/onionr/onionrcrypto.py
@@ -217,4 +217,8 @@ class OnionrCrypto:
         return hasher.hexdigest()
     
     def blake2bHash(self, data):
+        try:
+            data = data.encode()
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
         return nacl.hash.blake2b(data)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/onionr/onionrproofs.py b/onionr/onionrproofs.py
index d9ece436..0ac9b95c 100644
--- a/onionr/onionrproofs.py
+++ b/onionr/onionrproofs.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 '''
 
 import nacl.encoding, nacl.hash, nacl.utils, time, math, threading, binascii, logger, sys
-import btc
+import btc, core
 
 class POW:
     def pow(self, reporting = False):
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ class POW:
         blockCheckCount = 0
         block = '' #self.bitcoinNode.getBlockHash(self.bitcoinNode.getLastBlockHeight())
         #logger.debug('thread started')
+        myCore = core.Core()
         while self.hashing:
             '''
             if blockCheckCount == blockCheck:
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ class POW:
             hbCount += 1
             '''
             rand = nacl.utils.random()
-            token = nacl.hash.blake2b(nacl.utils.random() + self.data).decode()
+            token = nacl.hash.blake2b(rand + self.data).decode()
             #print(token)
             if self.puzzle == token[0:self.difficulty]:
                 self.hashing = False