diff --git a/codex/contracts/requests.nim b/codex/contracts/requests.nim
index e53ec1ef..98d8c342 100644
--- a/codex/contracts/requests.nim
+++ b/codex/contracts/requests.nim
@@ -6,8 +6,10 @@ import pkg/nimcrypto
 import pkg/ethers/fields
 import pkg/questionable/results
 import pkg/stew/byteutils
+import pkg/libp2p/[cid, multicodec]
 import ../logutils
 import ../utils/json
+from ../errors import mapFailure
 
 export contractabi
 
@@ -29,7 +31,7 @@ type
     maxSlotLoss* {.serialize.}: uint64
 
   StorageContent* = object
-    cid* {.serialize.}: seq[byte]
+    cid* {.serialize.}: Cid
     merkleRoot*: array[32, byte]
 
   Slot* = object
@@ -120,6 +122,9 @@ func fromTuple(_: type StorageAsk, tupl: tuple): StorageAsk =
 func fromTuple(_: type StorageContent, tupl: tuple): StorageContent =
   StorageContent(cid: tupl[0], merkleRoot: tupl[1])
 
+func solidityType*(_: type Cid): string =
+  solidityType(seq[byte])
+
 func solidityType*(_: type StorageContent): string =
   solidityType(StorageContent.fieldTypes)
 
@@ -129,6 +134,10 @@ func solidityType*(_: type StorageAsk): string =
 func solidityType*(_: type StorageRequest): string =
   solidityType(StorageRequest.fieldTypes)
 
+# Note: it seems to be ok to ignore the vbuffer offset for now
+func encode*(encoder: var AbiEncoder, cid: Cid) =
+  encoder.write(cid.data.buffer)
+
 func encode*(encoder: var AbiEncoder, content: StorageContent) =
   encoder.write(content.fieldValues)
 
@@ -141,8 +150,12 @@ func encode*(encoder: var AbiEncoder, id: RequestId | SlotId | Nonce) =
 func encode*(encoder: var AbiEncoder, request: StorageRequest) =
   encoder.write(request.fieldValues)
 
-func encode*(encoder: var AbiEncoder, request: Slot) =
-  encoder.write(request.fieldValues)
+func encode*(encoder: var AbiEncoder, slot: Slot) =
+  encoder.write(slot.fieldValues)
+
+func decode*(decoder: var AbiDecoder, T: type Cid): ?!T =
+  let data = ?decoder.read(seq[byte])
+  Cid.init(data).mapFailure
 
 func decode*(decoder: var AbiDecoder, T: type StorageContent): ?!T =
   let tupl = ?decoder.read(StorageContent.fieldTypes)
diff --git a/codex/node.nim b/codex/node.nim
index ef02af62..f9c39de0 100644
--- a/codex/node.nim
+++ b/codex/node.nim
@@ -501,10 +501,7 @@ proc setupRequest(
         collateralPerByte: collateralPerByte,
         maxSlotLoss: tolerance,
       ),
-      content: StorageContent(
-        cid: manifestBlk.cid.data.buffer,
-        merkleRoot: verifyRoot,
-      ),
+      content: StorageContent(cid: manifestBlk.cid, merkleRoot: verifyRoot),
       expiry: expiry,
     )
 
@@ -567,7 +564,7 @@ proc onStore(
 
   trace "Received a request to store a slot"
 
-  without cid =? Cid.init(request.content.cid).mapFailure, err:
+  without cid =? Cid.init(request.content.cid.data.buffer).mapFailure, err:
     trace "Unable to parse Cid", cid
     return failure(err)
 
@@ -640,7 +637,7 @@ proc onProve(
   ##
 
   let
-    cidStr = slot.request.content.cid
+    cidStr = $slot.request.content.cid.data.buffer
     slotIdx = slot.slotIndex.truncate(Natural)
 
   logScope:
diff --git a/codex/sales/states/filled.nim b/codex/sales/states/filled.nim
index 9e7d9906..44199a0c 100644
--- a/codex/sales/states/filled.nim
+++ b/codex/sales/states/filled.nim
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ method run*(state: SaleFilled, machine: Machine): Future[?State] {.async.} =
       raiseAssert "onExpiryUpdate callback not set"
 
     let requestEnd = await market.getRequestEnd(data.requestId)
-    if err =? (await onExpiryUpdate(request.content.cid, requestEnd)).errorOption:
+    if err =?
+        (await onExpiryUpdate(request.content.cid.data.buffer, requestEnd)).errorOption:
       return some State(SaleErrored(error: err))
 
     when codex_enable_proof_failures:
diff --git a/tests/codex/node/testcontracts.nim b/tests/codex/node/testcontracts.nim
index ce787ae4..b29fd159 100644
--- a/tests/codex/node/testcontracts.nim
+++ b/tests/codex/node/testcontracts.nim
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ asyncchecksuite "Test Node - Host contracts":
   test "onStore callback":
     let onStore = !sales.onStore
     var request = StorageRequest.example
-    request.content.cid = verifiableBlock.cid.data.buffer
+    request.content.cid = verifiableBlock.cid
     request.expiry = (getTime() + DefaultBlockTtl.toTimesDuration + 1.hours).toUnix.u256
     var fetchedBytes: uint = 0
 
diff --git a/tests/codex/node/testnode.nim b/tests/codex/node/testnode.nim
index 5058548b..37960232 100644
--- a/tests/codex/node/testnode.nim
+++ b/tests/codex/node/testnode.nim
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ asyncchecksuite "Test Node - Basic":
 
     check:
       (await verifiableBlock.cid in localStore) == true
-      request.content.cid == verifiableBlock.cid.data.buffer
+      request.content.cid == verifiableBlock.cid
       request.content.merkleRoot == builder.verifyRoot.get.toBytes
 
   test "Should delete a single block":
diff --git a/tests/codex/sales/testsales.nim b/tests/codex/sales/testsales.nim
index 484f9d79..6a4e1628 100644
--- a/tests/codex/sales/testsales.nim
+++ b/tests/codex/sales/testsales.nim
@@ -46,7 +46,9 @@ asyncchecksuite "Sales - start":
         pricePerBytePerSecond: 1.u256,
         collateralPerByte: 1.u256,
       ),
-      content: StorageContent(cid: "some cid".toBytes),
+      content: StorageContent(
+        cid: Cid.init("zb2rhheVmk3bLks5MgzTqyznLu1zqGH5jrfTA1eAZXrjx7Vob").tryGet
+      ),
       expiry: (getTime() + initDuration(hours = 1)).toUnix.u256,
     )
 
@@ -158,7 +160,9 @@ asyncchecksuite "Sales":
         pricePerBytePerSecond: minPricePerBytePerSecond,
         collateralPerByte: 1.u256,
       ),
-      content: StorageContent(cid: "some cid".toBytes),
+      content: StorageContent(
+        cid: Cid.init("zb2rhheVmk3bLks5MgzTqyznLu1zqGH5jrfTA1eAZXrjx7Vob").tryGet
+      ),
       expiry: (getTime() + initDuration(hours = 1)).toUnix.u256,
     )
 
diff --git a/tests/contracts/testMarket.nim b/tests/contracts/testMarket.nim
index 2ba450a1..6506a2d6 100644
--- a/tests/contracts/testMarket.nim
+++ b/tests/contracts/testMarket.nim
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import std/importutils
 import pkg/chronos
 import pkg/ethers/erc20
 import codex/contracts
+import pkg/libp2p/cid
 import pkg/lrucache
 import ../ethertest
 import ./examples
diff --git a/tests/examples.nim b/tests/examples.nim
index 6f6a07cc..26013cdc 100644
--- a/tests/examples.nim
+++ b/tests/examples.nim
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ proc example*(_: type StorageRequest): StorageRequest =
       maxSlotLoss: 2, # 2 slots can be freed without data considered to be lost
     ),
     content: StorageContent(
-      cid: Cid.init("zb2rhheVmk3bLks5MgzTqyznLu1zqGH5jrfTA1eAZXrjx7Vob").tryGet.data.buffer,
-      merkleRoot: array[32, byte].example
+      cid: Cid.init("zb2rhheVmk3bLks5MgzTqyznLu1zqGH5jrfTA1eAZXrjx7Vob").tryGet,
+      merkleRoot: array[32, byte].example,
     ),
     expiry: (60 * 60).u256, # 1 hour ,
     nonce: Nonce.example,