diff --git a/simlib/Cargo.lock b/simlib/Cargo.lock
index e373f46..035f21d 100644
--- a/simlib/Cargo.lock
+++ b/simlib/Cargo.lock
@@ -256,15 +256,6 @@ version = "0.22.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "72b3254f16251a8381aa12e40e3c4d2f0199f8c6508fbecb9d91f575e0fbb8c6"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "bincode"
-version = "1.3.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "b1f45e9417d87227c7a56d22e471c6206462cba514c7590c09aff4cf6d1ddcad"
-dependencies = [
- "serde",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "bitflags"
 version = "2.6.0"
@@ -1608,7 +1599,6 @@ name = "mixnet-sims"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
- "bincode",
  "clap",
  "crossbeam",
  "ctrlc",
@@ -1627,6 +1617,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "sha2",
  "tracing",
  "tracing-subscriber",
+ "uuid",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -3162,6 +3153,16 @@ version = "0.2.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "06abde3611657adf66d383f00b093d7faecc7fa57071cce2578660c9f1010821"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "uuid"
+version = "1.11.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f8c5f0a0af699448548ad1a2fbf920fb4bee257eae39953ba95cb84891a0446a"
+dependencies = [
+ "getrandom",
+ "rand",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "valuable"
 version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/simlib/Cargo.toml b/simlib/Cargo.toml
index cee8ef1..322581b 100644
--- a/simlib/Cargo.toml
+++ b/simlib/Cargo.toml
@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@ members = [
     "mixnet-sims"
 
 ]
-resolver = "2"
\ No newline at end of file
+resolver = "2"
diff --git a/simlib/mixnet-sims/Cargo.toml b/simlib/mixnet-sims/Cargo.toml
index b8091e5..b81011a 100644
--- a/simlib/mixnet-sims/Cargo.toml
+++ b/simlib/mixnet-sims/Cargo.toml
@@ -23,4 +23,4 @@ futures = "0.3.31"
 rand_chacha = "0.3"
 multiaddr = "0.18"
 sha2 = "0.10"
-bincode = "1"
+uuid = { version = "1", features = ["fast-rng", "v4"] }
diff --git a/simlib/mixnet-sims/src/node/mix/mod.rs b/simlib/mixnet-sims/src/node/mix/mod.rs
index 2b5ea87..795462a 100644
--- a/simlib/mixnet-sims/src/node/mix/mod.rs
+++ b/simlib/mixnet-sims/src/node/mix/mod.rs
@@ -27,12 +27,13 @@ use nomos_mix_message::mock::MockMixMessage;
 use rand::SeedableRng;
 use rand_chacha::ChaCha12Rng;
 use scheduler::{Interval, TemporalRelease};
-use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use serde::Deserialize;
 use sha2::{Digest, Sha256};
 use state::MixnodeState;
 use std::collections::HashSet;
 use std::{pin::pin, task::Poll, time::Duration};
 use stream_wrapper::CrossbeamReceiverStream;
+use uuid::Uuid;
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct MixMessage(Vec<u8>);
@@ -215,12 +216,8 @@ impl MixNode {
         self.blend_update_time_sender.send(elapsed).unwrap();
     }
 
-    fn build_message_payload(&self) -> Vec<u8> {
-        let payload = MessagePayload {
-            node_id: self.id.into(),
-            step_id: self.state.step_id,
-        };
-        bincode::serialize(&payload).unwrap()
+    fn build_message_payload(&self) -> [u8; 16] {
+        Uuid::new_v4().into_bytes()
     }
 }
 
@@ -292,9 +289,3 @@ impl Node for MixNode {
         }
     }
 }
-
-#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
-struct MessagePayload {
-    node_id: [u8; 32],
-    step_id: usize,
-}