diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 53f1ded4..49b86182 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -94,8 +94,9 @@
     "@scure/base": "^1.1.3",
     "canonicalize": "^2.0.0",
     "did-resolver": "^4.1.0",
-    "multiformats": "^12.0.0",
-    "uint8arrays": "^4.0.3"
+    "multibase": "^4.0.6",
+    "multiformats": "^9.6.2",
+    "uint8arrays": "3.1.1"
   },
   "eslintIgnore": [
     "*.test.ts"
diff --git a/renovate.json b/renovate.json
index 33b1b8b8..e7550ef6 100644
--- a/renovate.json
+++ b/renovate.json
@@ -30,6 +30,13 @@
       "extends": [
         "schedule:earlyMondays"
       ]
+    },
+    {
+      "matchPackagePatterns": [
+        "multiformats",
+        "uint8arrays"
+      ],
+      "enabled": false
     }
   ]
 }
diff --git a/src/Digest.ts b/src/Digest.ts
index 0ebbd292..69f665fe 100644
--- a/src/Digest.ts
+++ b/src/Digest.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 import { sha256 as sha256Hash } from '@noble/hashes/sha256'
 export { ripemd160 } from '@noble/hashes/ripemd160'
 import { keccak_256 } from '@noble/hashes/sha3'
-import { fromString } from 'uint8arrays/from-string'
-import { toString } from 'uint8arrays/to-string'
-import { concat } from 'uint8arrays/concat'
+import { fromString, toString, concat } from 'uint8arrays'
 
 export function sha256(payload: string | Uint8Array): Uint8Array {
   const data = typeof payload === 'string' ? fromString(payload) : payload
diff --git a/src/dependency.types.d.ts b/src/dependency.types.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f8da82bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dependency.types.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+declare module 'uint8arrays' {
+  export function compare(a: Uint8Array, b: Uint8Array): 0 | 1 | -1
+  export function concat(arrays: Array<ArrayLike<number>>, length?: number | undefined): Uint8Array
+  export type SupportedEncodings =
+    | 'utf8'
+    | 'utf-8'
+    | 'hex'
+    | 'ascii'
+    | 'base10'
+    | 'base16'
+    | 'base16upper'
+    | 'base58btc'
+    | 'base64'
+    | 'base64url'
+    | 'base64pad'
+  export function fromString(string: string, encoding?: SupportedEncodings | undefined): Uint8Array
+  export function toString(array: Uint8Array, encoding?: SupportedEncodings | undefined): string
+}
+
+declare module 'multiformats' {
+  declare namespace varint {
+    export function decode(data: Uint8Array, offset?: number | undefined): [number, number]
+    export function encodeTo(int: number, target: Uint8Array, offset?: number | undefined): Uint8Array
+    export function encodingLength(int: number): number
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/encryption/JWE.ts b/src/encryption/JWE.ts
index 3a6ac5ce..3bf91ec1 100644
--- a/src/encryption/JWE.ts
+++ b/src/encryption/JWE.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-import { fromString } from 'uint8arrays/from-string'
-import { base64ToBytes, bytesToBase64url, decodeBase64url, toSealed } from '../util.js'
+import { base64ToBytes, bytesToBase64url, decodeBase64url, stringToBytes, toSealed } from '../util.js'
 import type { Decrypter, Encrypter, EncryptionResult, EphemeralKeyPair, JWE, ProtectedHeader } from './types.js'
 
 function validateJWE(jwe: JWE) {
@@ -74,7 +73,7 @@ export async function decryptJWE(jwe: JWE, decrypter: Decrypter): Promise<Uint8A
   if (protHeader.enc !== decrypter.enc)
     throw new Error(`not_supported: Decrypter does not supported: '${protHeader.enc}'`)
   const sealed = toSealed(jwe.ciphertext, jwe.tag)
-  const aad = fromString(jwe.aad ? `${jwe.protected}.${jwe.aad}` : jwe.protected, 'utf-8')
+  const aad = stringToBytes(jwe.aad ? `${jwe.protected}.${jwe.aad}` : jwe.protected)
   let cleartext = null
   if (protHeader.alg === 'dir' && decrypter.alg === 'dir') {
     cleartext = await decrypter.decrypt(sealed, base64ToBytes(jwe.iv), aad)
diff --git a/src/encryption/xc20pDir.ts b/src/encryption/xc20pDir.ts
index e9466c48..b2ad4ec6 100644
--- a/src/encryption/xc20pDir.ts
+++ b/src/encryption/xc20pDir.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import type { Decrypter, Encrypter, EncryptionResult, ProtectedHeader } from './types.js'
-import { bytesToBase64url, encodeBase64url } from '../util.js'
-import { fromString } from 'uint8arrays/from-string'
+import { bytesToBase64url, encodeBase64url, stringToBytes } from '../util.js'
 import { xchacha20poly1305 } from '@noble/ciphers/chacha'
 import { randomBytes } from '@noble/hashes/utils'
 
@@ -28,7 +27,7 @@ export function xc20pDirEncrypter(key: Uint8Array): Encrypter {
     aad?: Uint8Array
   ): Promise<EncryptionResult> {
     const protHeader = encodeBase64url(JSON.stringify(Object.assign({ alg }, protectedHeader, { enc })))
-    const encodedAad = fromString(aad ? `${protHeader}.${bytesToBase64url(aad)}` : protHeader, 'utf-8')
+    const encodedAad = stringToBytes(aad ? `${protHeader}.${bytesToBase64url(aad)}` : protHeader)
     return {
       ...xc20pEncrypt(cleartext, encodedAad),
       protectedHeader: protHeader,
diff --git a/src/util.ts b/src/util.ts
index 65456aba..2648a383 100644
--- a/src/util.ts
+++ b/src/util.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import { concat, fromString, toString } from 'uint8arrays'
-import { bases } from 'multiformats/basics'
 import { x25519 } from '@noble/curves/ed25519'
 import type { EphemeralKeyPair } from './encryption/types.js'
 import { varint } from 'multiformats'
+import { BaseName, decode, encode } from 'multibase'
 
 const u8a = { toString, fromString, concat }
 
@@ -77,18 +77,18 @@ export const supportedCodecs = {
  */
 export function bytesToMultibase(
   b: Uint8Array,
-  base: keyof typeof bases = 'base58btc',
+  base: BaseName = 'base58btc',
   codec?: keyof typeof supportedCodecs | number
 ): string {
   if (!codec) {
-    return bases[base].encode(b)
+    return u8a.toString(encode(base, b), 'utf-8')
   } else {
     const codecCode = typeof codec === 'string' ? supportedCodecs[codec] : codec
     const prefixLength = varint.encodingLength(codecCode)
     const multicodecEncoding = new Uint8Array(prefixLength + b.length)
     varint.encodeTo(codecCode, multicodecEncoding) // set prefix
     multicodecEncoding.set(b, prefixLength) // add the original bytes
-    return bases[base].encode(multicodecEncoding)
+    return u8a.toString(encode(base, multicodecEncoding), 'utf-8')
   }
 }
 
@@ -103,15 +103,7 @@ export function bytesToMultibase(
  * @public
  */
 export function multibaseToBytes(s: string): Uint8Array {
-  const { base10, base16, base16upper, base58btc, base64, base64url } = bases
-
-  const baseDecoder = base58btc.decoder
-    .or(base10.decoder)
-    .or(base16.decoder)
-    .or(base16upper.decoder)
-    .or(base64.decoder)
-    .or(base64url.decoder)
-  const bytes = baseDecoder.decode(s)
+  const bytes = decode(s)
 
   // look for known key lengths first
   // Ed25519/X25519, secp256k1/P256 compressed or not, BLS12-381 G1/G2 compressed
@@ -166,7 +158,7 @@ export function bigintToBytes(n: bigint, minLength?: number): Uint8Array {
 }
 
 export function stringToBytes(s: string): Uint8Array {
-  return u8a.fromString(s)
+  return u8a.fromString(s, 'utf-8')
 }
 
 export function toJose({ r, s, recoveryParam }: EcdsaSignature, recoverable?: boolean): string {
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 3479f276..9f81e8a0 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -2461,6 +2461,11 @@
     "@jridgewell/resolve-uri" "^3.1.0"
     "@jridgewell/sourcemap-codec" "^1.4.14"
 
+"@multiformats/base-x@^4.0.1":
+  version "4.0.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@multiformats/base-x/-/base-x-4.0.1.tgz#95ff0fa58711789d53aefb2590a8b7a4e715d121"
+  integrity sha512-eMk0b9ReBbV23xXU693TAIrLyeO5iTgBZGSJfpqriG8UkYvr/hC9u9pyMlAakDNHWmbhMZCDs6KQO0jzKD8OTw==
+
 "@noble/ciphers@^0.4.0":
   version "0.4.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@noble/ciphers/-/ciphers-0.4.0.tgz#e3f69e3ce935683dd8dadb636652a5cb5cd5958c"
@@ -8205,10 +8210,17 @@ ms@^2.0.0, ms@^2.1.2:
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/ms/-/ms-2.1.3.tgz"
   integrity sha512-6FlzubTLZG3J2a/NVCAleEhjzq5oxgHyaCU9yYXvcLsvoVaHJq/s5xXI6/XXP6tz7R9xAOtHnSO/tXtF3WRTlA==
 
-multiformats@^12.0.0, multiformats@^12.0.1:
-  version "12.1.3"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/multiformats/-/multiformats-12.1.3.tgz#cbf7a9861e11e74f8228b21376088cb43ba8754e"
-  integrity sha512-eajQ/ZH7qXZQR2AgtfpmSMizQzmyYVmCql7pdhldPuYQi4atACekbJaQplk6dWyIi10jCaFnd6pqvcEFXjbaJw==
+multibase@^4.0.6:
+  version "4.0.6"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/multibase/-/multibase-4.0.6.tgz#6e624341483d6123ca1ede956208cb821b440559"
+  integrity sha512-x23pDe5+svdLz/k5JPGCVdfn7Q5mZVMBETiC+ORfO+sor9Sgs0smJzAjfTbM5tckeCqnaUuMYoz+k3RXMmJClQ==
+  dependencies:
+    "@multiformats/base-x" "^4.0.1"
+
+multiformats@^9.4.2, multiformats@^9.6.2:
+  version "9.9.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/multiformats/-/multiformats-9.9.0.tgz#c68354e7d21037a8f1f8833c8ccd68618e8f1d37"
+  integrity sha512-HoMUjhH9T8DDBNT+6xzkrd9ga/XiBI4xLr58LJACwK6G3HTOPeMz4nB4KJs33L2BelrIJa7P0VuNaVF3hMYfjg==
 
 mute-stream@~1.0.0:
   version "1.0.0"
@@ -10624,12 +10636,12 @@ uglify-js@^3.1.4:
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/uglify-js/-/uglify-js-3.17.0.tgz"
   integrity sha512-aTeNPVmgIMPpm1cxXr2Q/nEbvkmV8yq66F3om7X3P/cvOXQ0TMQ64Wk63iyT1gPlmdmGzjGpyLh1f3y8MZWXGg==
 
-uint8arrays@^4.0.3:
-  version "4.0.6"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/uint8arrays/-/uint8arrays-4.0.6.tgz#bae68b536c2e87147045b95d73d29e503e45ecab"
-  integrity sha512-4ZesjQhqOU2Ip6GPReIwN60wRxIupavL8T0Iy36BBHr2qyMrNxsPJvr7vpS4eFt8F8kSguWUPad6ZM9izs/vyw==
+uint8arrays@3.1.1:
+  version "3.1.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/uint8arrays/-/uint8arrays-3.1.1.tgz#2d8762acce159ccd9936057572dade9459f65ae0"
+  integrity sha512-+QJa8QRnbdXVpHYjLoTpJIdCTiw9Ir62nocClWuXIq2JIh4Uta0cQsTSpFL678p2CN8B+XSApwcU+pQEqVpKWg==
   dependencies:
-    multiformats "^12.0.1"
+    multiformats "^9.4.2"
 
 unbox-primitive@^1.0.1:
   version "1.0.1"