diff --git a/poseidon2/merkle.nim b/poseidon2/merkle.nim
index fe18210..0c4465f 100644
--- a/poseidon2/merkle.nim
+++ b/poseidon2/merkle.nim
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 import std/sequtils
 import constantine/math/arithmetic
+import constantine/math/io/io_fields
 import ./types
 import ./io
 import ./compress
 
-func merkleRoot*(xs: openArray[F]) : F =
+const KeyNone = F.fromHex("0x0")
+const KeyBottomLayer = F.fromHex("0x1")
+const KeyOdd = F.fromHex("0x2")
+const KeyOddAndBottomLayer = F.fromhex("0x3")
+
+func merkleRoot*(xs: openArray[F], isBottomLayer: static bool = true) : F =
   let a = low(xs)
   let b = high(xs)
   let m = b-a+1
@@ -24,11 +30,13 @@ func merkleRoot*(xs: openArray[F]) : F =
       ys = newSeq[F](halfn+1)
 
     for i in 0..<halfn:
-      ys[i] = compress( xs[a+2*i], xs[a+2*i+1] )
+      const key = when isBottomLayer: KeyBottomLayer else: KeyNone
+      ys[i] = compress( xs[a+2*i], xs[a+2*i+1], key = key )
     if isOdd:
-      ys[halfn] = compress( xs[n], zero )
+      const key = when isBottomLayer: KeyOddAndBottomLayer else: KeyOdd
+      ys[halfn] = compress( xs[n], zero, key = key )
 
-    return merkleRoot(ys)
+    return merkleRoot(ys, isBottomLayer = false)
 
 func merkleRoot*(bytes: openArray[byte]): F =
   merkleRoot(toSeq bytes.elements(F))
diff --git a/tests/poseidon2/testMerkle.nim b/tests/poseidon2/testMerkle.nim
index cff8677..178d568 100644
--- a/tests/poseidon2/testMerkle.nim
+++ b/tests/poseidon2/testMerkle.nim
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ import poseidon2/merkle
 
 suite "merkle root":
 
+  const isBottomLayer = 1
+  const isOddNode = 2
+
   test "merkle root of field elements":
     let m = 17
     let n = 2^m
@@ -22,24 +25,35 @@ suite "merkle root":
       xs.add( toF(i) )
 
     let root = merkleRoot(xs)
-    check root.toHex(littleEndian) == "0xd1111b3515a663bb48278bfe453fe2508487014a1c6093d3ec5a6db764bbab1e"
+    check root.toHex(littleEndian) == "0x593e01f200cb1aee4e75fe2a9206abc3abd2a1216ab75f1061965e97371e8623"
 
   test "merkle root of even elements":
     let elements = toSeq(1..4).mapIt(toF(it))
-    let expected = compress(compress(1.toF, 2.toF), compress(3.toF, 4.toF))
+    let expected = compress(
+      compress(1.toF, 2.toF, key = isBottomLayer.toF),
+      compress(3.toF, 4.toF, key = isBottomLayer.toF),
+    )
     check bool(merkleRoot(elements) == expected)
 
   test "merkle root of odd elements":
     let elements = toSeq(1..3).mapIt(toF(it))
-    let expected = compress(compress(1.toF, 2.toF), compress(3.toF, 0.toF))
+    let expected = compress(
+      compress(1.toF, 2.toF, key = isBottomLayer.toF),
+      compress(3.toF, 0.toF, key = (isBottomLayer + isOddNode).toF)
+    )
     check bool(merkleRoot(elements) == expected)
 
+  test "data ending with 0 differs from padded data":
+    let a = toSeq(1..3).mapIt(it.toF)
+    let b = a & @[0.toF]
+    check not bool(merkleRoot(a) == merkleRoot(b))
+
   test "merkle root of bytes":
     let bytes = toSeq 1'u8..80'u8
     let root = merkleRoot(bytes)
-    check root.toHex(littleEndian) == "0x4f317667856aa66125dfa14c09096e08573803c91f87f20e2940238ede66a02d"
+    check root.toHex(littleEndian) == "0x40989b63104f39e3331767883381085bcfc46e2202679123371f1ffe53521b16"
 
   test "merkle root of bytes converted to bytes":
     let bytes = toSeq 1'u8..80'u8
     let rootAsBytes = merkleRoot(bytes).toBytes()
-    check rootAsBytes.toHex == "0x4f317667856aa66125dfa14c09096e08573803c91f87f20e2940238ede66a02d"
+    check rootAsBytes.toHex == "0x40989b63104f39e3331767883381085bcfc46e2202679123371f1ffe53521b16"