diff --git a/core/src/test/kotlin/net/corda/core/utilities/KotlinUtilsTest.kt b/core/src/test/kotlin/net/corda/core/utilities/KotlinUtilsTest.kt
index 89c4ee9092..e7fbf6a5d0 100644
--- a/core/src/test/kotlin/net/corda/core/utilities/KotlinUtilsTest.kt
+++ b/core/src/test/kotlin/net/corda/core/utilities/KotlinUtilsTest.kt
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ class KotlinUtilsTest {
         expectedEx.expect(KryoException::class.java)
         expectedEx.expectMessage("is not annotated or on the whitelist, so cannot be used in serialization")
         val original = NonCapturingTransientProperty()
-        original.serialize(context = KRYO_CHECKPOINT_CONTEXT).deserialize()
+        original.serialize(context = KRYO_CHECKPOINT_CONTEXT.withEncoding(null)).deserialize()
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ class KotlinUtilsTest {
         expectedEx.expect(KryoException::class.java)
         expectedEx.expectMessage("is not annotated or on the whitelist, so cannot be used in serialization")
         val original = CapturingTransientProperty("Hello")
-        original.serialize(context = KRYO_CHECKPOINT_CONTEXT).deserialize()
+        original.serialize(context = KRYO_CHECKPOINT_CONTEXT.withEncoding(null)).deserialize()
     }
 
     private class NullTransientProperty {
diff --git a/node-api/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/nodeapi/internal/serialization/SharedContexts.kt b/node-api/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/nodeapi/internal/serialization/SharedContexts.kt
index 25977e4c1e..854866a506 100644
--- a/node-api/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/nodeapi/internal/serialization/SharedContexts.kt
+++ b/node-api/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/nodeapi/internal/serialization/SharedContexts.kt
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import net.corda.core.serialization.EncodingWhitelist
 import net.corda.core.serialization.SerializationContext
 import net.corda.core.serialization.SerializationDefaults
 import net.corda.core.serialization.SerializationEncoding
+import net.corda.nodeapi.internal.serialization.CordaSerializationEncoding.SNAPPY
 import net.corda.nodeapi.internal.serialization.amqp.amqpMagic
 import net.corda.nodeapi.internal.serialization.kryo.kryoMagic
 
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ val KRYO_CHECKPOINT_CONTEXT = SerializationContextImpl(kryoMagic,
         emptyMap(),
         true,
         SerializationContext.UseCase.Checkpoint,
-        null,
+        SNAPPY,
         AlwaysAcceptEncodingWhitelist)
 val AMQP_P2P_CONTEXT = SerializationContextImpl(amqpMagic,
         SerializationDefaults.javaClass.classLoader,
diff --git a/node/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/node/services/persistence/DBTransactionStorage.kt b/node/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/node/services/persistence/DBTransactionStorage.kt
index fa1281bce5..08b012c2e8 100644
--- a/node/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/node/services/persistence/DBTransactionStorage.kt
+++ b/node/src/main/kotlin/net/corda/node/services/persistence/DBTransactionStorage.kt
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import net.corda.node.utilities.WeightBasedAppendOnlyPersistentMap
 import net.corda.nodeapi.internal.persistence.NODE_DATABASE_PREFIX
 import net.corda.nodeapi.internal.persistence.bufferUntilDatabaseCommit
 import net.corda.nodeapi.internal.persistence.wrapWithDatabaseTransaction
+import net.corda.nodeapi.internal.serialization.CordaSerializationEncoding.SNAPPY
 import org.apache.commons.lang.ArrayUtils.EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY
 import rx.Observable
 import rx.subjects.PublishSubject
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ class DBTransactionStorage(cacheSizeBytes: Long) : WritableTransactionStorage, S
                         DBTransaction().apply {
                             txId = key.toString()
                             transaction = value.toSignedTx().
-                                    serialize(context = SerializationDefaults.STORAGE_CONTEXT).bytes
+                                    serialize(context = SerializationDefaults.STORAGE_CONTEXT.withEncoding(SNAPPY)).bytes
                         }
                     },
                     persistentEntityClass = DBTransaction::class.java,