diff --git a/nimbus/db/storage_types.nim b/nimbus/db/storage_types.nim
index 3783e6bdc..978efbc67 100644
--- a/nimbus/db/storage_types.nim
+++ b/nimbus/db/storage_types.nim
@@ -12,45 +12,56 @@ type
   DbKey* = object
     # The first byte stores the key type. The rest are key-specific values
     data: array[33, byte]
-    usedBytes: uint8
+    dataEndPos: uint8 # the last populated position in the data
 
   StorageError* = object of Exception
 
 proc genericHashKey*(h: Hash256): DbKey {.inline.} =
   result.data[0] = byte ord(genericHash)
   result.data[1 .. 32] = h.data
-  result.usedBytes = uint8 32
+  result.dataEndPos = uint8 32
 
 proc blockHashToScoreKey*(h: Hash256): DbKey {.inline.} =
   result.data[0] = byte ord(blockHashToScore)
   result.data[1 .. 32] = h.data
-  result.usedBytes = uint8 32
+  result.dataEndPos = uint8 32
 
 proc transactionHashToBlockKey*(h: Hash256): DbKey {.inline.} =
   result.data[0] = byte ord(transactionHashToBlock)
   result.data[1 .. 32] = h.data
-  result.usedBytes = uint8 32
+  result.dataEndPos = uint8 32
 
 proc blockNumberToHashKey*(u: BlockNumber): DbKey {.inline.} =
   result.data[0] = byte ord(blockNumberToHash)
   assert sizeof(u) <= 32
   copyMem(addr result.data[1], unsafeAddr u, sizeof(u))
-  result.usedBytes = uint8 sizeof(u)
+  result.dataEndPos = uint8 sizeof(u)
 
 proc canonicalHeadHashKey*(): DbKey {.inline.} =
   result.data[0] = byte ord(canonicalHeadHash)
-  result.usedBytes = 32
+  result.dataEndPos = 1
 
 const hashHolderKinds = {genericHash, blockHashToScore, transactionHashToBlock}
 
 template toOpenArray*(k: DbKey): openarray[byte] =
-  k.data.toOpenArray(0, int k.usedBytes)
+  k.data.toOpenArray(0, int(k.dataEndPos))
 
 proc hash*(k: DbKey): Hash =
   result = hash(k.toOpenArray)
 
+# TODO: this should be added to Nim
+proc `==`*[T](lhs, rhs: openarray[T]): bool =
+  if lhs.len != rhs.len:
+    return false
+
+  for i in 0 ..< lhs.len:
+    if lhs[i] != rhs[i]:
+      return false
+
+  return true
+
 proc `==`*(a, b: DbKey): bool {.inline.} =
-  equalMem(unsafeAddr a, unsafeAddr b, sizeof(a))
+  a.toOpenArray == b.toOpenArray
 
 template raiseStorageInitError* =
   raise newException(StorageError, "failure to initialize storage")
diff --git a/tests/test_storage_backends.nim b/tests/test_storage_backends.nim
index e8de17b66..3869295eb 100644
--- a/tests/test_storage_backends.nim
+++ b/tests/test_storage_backends.nim
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import
   unittest, macros,
-  nimcrypto/[keccak, hash], ranges, eth_common/eth_types,
+  stint, nimcrypto/[keccak, hash], ranges, eth_common/eth_types,
   ../nimbus/db/[storage_types],
   ../nimbus/db/backends/[sqlite_backend, rocksdb_backend]