diff --git a/x/evidence/types/codec.go b/x/evidence/types/codec.go
index 6cfd762c3..d0a9d1a5e 100644
--- a/x/evidence/types/codec.go
+++ b/x/evidence/types/codec.go
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/evidence/exported"
 )
 
-// EvidenceCodec defines the interface required to serialize evidence
+// Codec defines the interface required to serialize evidence
 type Codec interface {
 	codec.Marshaler
 
diff --git a/x/gov/types/codec.go b/x/gov/types/codec.go
index 5226877f9..a02491a12 100644
--- a/x/gov/types/codec.go
+++ b/x/gov/types/codec.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/codec"
 )
 
+// Codec defines the interface required to serialize custom x/gov types.
 type Codec interface {
 	codec.Marshaler
 
@@ -11,48 +12,39 @@ type Codec interface {
 	UnmarshalProposal(bz []byte, ptr *Proposal) error
 }
 
-// module codec
-var ModuleCdc = codec.New()
-
-// RegisterCodec registers all the necessary types and interfaces for
-// governance.
+// RegisterCodec registers all the necessary types and interfaces for the
+// governance module.
 func RegisterCodec(cdc *codec.Codec) {
 	cdc.RegisterInterface((*Content)(nil), nil)
-
 	cdc.RegisterConcrete(MsgSubmitProposal{}, "cosmos-sdk/MsgSubmitProposal", nil)
 	cdc.RegisterConcrete(MsgDeposit{}, "cosmos-sdk/MsgDeposit", nil)
 	cdc.RegisterConcrete(MsgVote{}, "cosmos-sdk/MsgVote", nil)
-
 	cdc.RegisterConcrete(TextProposal{}, "cosmos-sdk/TextProposal", nil)
 }
 
 // RegisterProposalTypeCodec registers an external proposal content type defined
 // in another module for the internal ModuleCdc. This allows the MsgSubmitProposal
 // to be correctly Amino encoded and decoded.
+//
+// NOTE: This should only be used for applications that are still using a concrete
+// Amino codec for serialization.
 func RegisterProposalTypeCodec(o interface{}, name string) {
-	ModuleCdc.RegisterConcrete(o, name, nil)
+	amino.RegisterConcrete(o, name, nil)
 }
 
-// TODO determine a good place to seal this codec
+var (
+	amino = codec.New()
+
+	// ModuleCdc references the global x/gov module codec. Note, the codec should
+	// ONLY be used in certain instances of tests and for JSON encoding as Amino is
+	// still used for that purpose.
+	//
+	// The actual codec used for serialization should be provided to x/gov and
+	// defined at the application level.
+	ModuleCdc = codec.NewHybridCodec(amino)
+)
+
 func init() {
-	RegisterCodec(ModuleCdc)
+	RegisterCodec(amino)
+	codec.RegisterCrypto(amino)
 }
-
-type AminoGovCodec struct {
-	codec.Marshaler
-	amino *codec.Codec
-}
-
-func NewAminoGovCodec(amino *codec.Codec) AminoGovCodec {
-	return AminoGovCodec{Marshaler: codec.NewHybridCodec(amino), amino: amino}
-}
-
-func (a AminoGovCodec) MarshalProposal(p Proposal) ([]byte, error) {
-	return a.amino.MarshalBinaryBare(p)
-}
-
-func (a AminoGovCodec) UnmarshalProposal(bz []byte, ptr *Proposal) error {
-	return a.amino.UnmarshalBinaryBare(bz, ptr)
-}
-
-var _ Codec = AminoGovCodec{}