diff --git a/waku/v2/noise/handshake.go b/waku/v2/noise/handshake.go
index 85abfeae..bc97a240 100644
--- a/waku/v2/noise/handshake.go
+++ b/waku/v2/noise/handshake.go
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ func (hs *Handshake) Authcode() (string, error) {
 	bn.SetBytes(output0)
 	code := new(big.Int)
 	code.Mod(bn, big.NewInt(100_000_000))
-	return fmt.Sprintf("'%8s'", code.String()), nil
+	return fmt.Sprintf("'%08s'", code.String()), nil
 }
 
 func (hs *Handshake) messageNametagSecrets() (nms1 []byte, nms2 []byte, err error) {
diff --git a/waku/v2/noise/messagenametag.go b/waku/v2/noise/messagenametag.go
index b554ea4e..dd433578 100644
--- a/waku/v2/noise/messagenametag.go
+++ b/waku/v2/noise/messagenametag.go
@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/binary"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	"errors"
 )
 
-type MessageNametag = [MessageNametagLength]byte
+type MessageNametag [MessageNametagLength]byte
 
 const MessageNametagLength = 16
 const MessageNametagBufferSize = 50
@@ -24,6 +25,10 @@ func BytesToMessageNametag(input []byte) MessageNametag {
 	return result
 }
 
+func (t MessageNametag) String() string {
+	return hex.EncodeToString(t[:])
+}
+
 type MessageNametagBuffer struct {
 	buffer  []MessageNametag
 	counter uint64