diff --git a/src/bin/client-demo.rs b/src/bin/client-demo.rs
index 57bf01b297..18a1a7f660 100644
--- a/src/bin/client-demo.rs
+++ b/src/bin/client-demo.rs
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ fn main() {
     }
 
     println!("Parsing stdin...");
-    let demo: MintDemo = serde_json::from_reader(stdin()).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
+    let demo: MintDemo = serde_json::from_str(&buffer).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
         eprintln!("failed to parse json: {}", e);
         exit(1);
     });
diff --git a/src/bin/genesis-demo.rs b/src/bin/genesis-demo.rs
index 97ab45e613..522a74abad 100644
--- a/src/bin/genesis-demo.rs
+++ b/src/bin/genesis-demo.rs
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ fn main() {
         exit(1);
     }
 
-    let demo: MintDemo = serde_json::from_reader(stdin()).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
+    let demo: MintDemo = serde_json::from_str(&buffer).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
         eprintln!("failed to parse json: {}", e);
         exit(1);
     });