diff --git a/packages/tests/package.json b/packages/tests/package.json
index 296fb881e8..5acce960eb 100644
--- a/packages/tests/package.json
+++ b/packages/tests/package.json
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@waku/core": "*",
     "@waku/create": "*",
-    "@waku/interfaces": "*"
+    "@waku/interfaces": "*",
+    "@waku/byte-utils": "*"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^5.8.1",
diff --git a/packages/tests/src/nwaku.ts b/packages/tests/src/nwaku.ts
index 15ef495690..036196446e 100644
--- a/packages/tests/src/nwaku.ts
+++ b/packages/tests/src/nwaku.ts
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ import { ChildProcess, spawn } from "child_process";
 import type { PeerId } from "@libp2p/interface-peer-id";
 import { peerIdFromString } from "@libp2p/peer-id";
 import { Multiaddr, multiaddr } from "@multiformats/multiaddr";
+import { bytesToHex, hexToBytes } from "@waku/byte-utils";
 import { DefaultPubSubTopic } from "@waku/core";
-import { utils } from "@waku/core";
 import appRoot from "app-root-path";
 import debug from "debug";
 import portfinder from "portfinder";
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@ import { existsAsync, mkdirAsync, openAsync } from "./async_fs";
 import { delay } from "./delay";
 import waitForLine from "./log_file";
 
-const { bytesToHex, hexToBytes } = utils;
-
 const log = debug("waku:nwaku");
 
 const WAKU_SERVICE_NODE_DIR =
diff --git a/packages/tests/tests/store.node.spec.ts b/packages/tests/tests/store.node.spec.ts
index fb779059b2..b63392b911 100644
--- a/packages/tests/tests/store.node.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/tests/tests/store.node.spec.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
+import { bytesToUtf8, utf8ToBytes } from "@waku/byte-utils";
 import {
   generatePrivateKey,
   generateSymmetricKey,
   getPublicKey,
 } from "@waku/core";
 import { PageDirection } from "@waku/core";
-import { bytesToUtf8, utf8ToBytes } from "@waku/core/lib/utils";
 import { waitForRemotePeer } from "@waku/core/lib/wait_for_remote_peer";
 import { DecoderV0, EncoderV0 } from "@waku/core/lib/waku_message/version_0";
 import {