diff --git a/common/hexutil/hexutil.go b/common/hexutil/hexutil.go
index b66c0d3fec..6b128ae360 100644
--- a/common/hexutil/hexutil.go
+++ b/common/hexutil/hexutil.go
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ func EncodeBig(bigint *big.Int) string {
 	if nbits == 0 {
 		return "0x0"
 	}
-	return fmt.Sprintf("0x%x", bigint)
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%#x", bigint)
 }
 
 func has0xPrefix(input string) bool {
diff --git a/common/hexutil/hexutil_test.go b/common/hexutil/hexutil_test.go
index 6a92a385cd..ed6fccc3ca 100644
--- a/common/hexutil/hexutil_test.go
+++ b/common/hexutil/hexutil_test.go
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ var (
 		{referenceBig("ff"), "0xff"},
 		{referenceBig("112233445566778899aabbccddeeff"), "0x112233445566778899aabbccddeeff"},
 		{referenceBig("80a7f2c1bcc396c00"), "0x80a7f2c1bcc396c00"},
+		{referenceBig("-80a7f2c1bcc396c00"), "-0x80a7f2c1bcc396c00"},
 	}
 
 	encodeUint64Tests = []marshalTest{
diff --git a/common/hexutil/json.go b/common/hexutil/json.go
index ce6a2b0485..23393ed2c5 100644
--- a/common/hexutil/json.go
+++ b/common/hexutil/json.go
@@ -25,9 +25,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	textZero          = []byte(`0x0`)
-	errNonString      = errors.New("cannot unmarshal non-string as hex data")
-	errNegativeBigInt = errors.New("hexutil.Big: can't marshal negative integer")
+	textZero     = []byte(`0x0`)
+	errNonString = errors.New("cannot unmarshal non-string as hex data")
 )
 
 // Bytes marshals/unmarshals as a JSON string with 0x prefix.
@@ -101,18 +100,7 @@ type Big big.Int
 
 // MarshalText implements encoding.TextMarshaler
 func (b Big) MarshalText() ([]byte, error) {
-	bigint := (big.Int)(b)
-	if bigint.Sign() == -1 {
-		return nil, errNegativeBigInt
-	}
-	nbits := bigint.BitLen()
-	if nbits == 0 {
-		return textZero, nil
-	}
-	enc := make([]byte, 2, nbits/4+2)
-	copy(enc, "0x")
-	enc = bigint.Append(enc, 16)
-	return enc, nil
+	return []byte(EncodeBig((*big.Int)(&b))), nil
 }
 
 // UnmarshalJSON implements json.Unmarshaler.