diff --git a/src/network/serialize.rs b/src/network/serialize.rs
index 14644c3..4670fb0 100644
--- a/src/network/serialize.rs
+++ b/src/network/serialize.rs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 use collections::Vec;
 use std::io::{IoError, IoResult, OtherIoError, MemReader, MemWriter};
+use serialize::hex::ToHex;
 
 use network::encodable::{ConsensusDecodable, ConsensusEncodable};
 use util::hash::Sha256dHash;
@@ -44,6 +45,12 @@ pub fn serialize<T: ConsensusEncodable<RawEncoder<MemWriter>, IoError>>(obj: &T)
   Ok(encoder.unwrap().unwrap())
 }
 
+/// Encode an object into a hex-encoded string
+pub fn serialize_hex<T: ConsensusEncodable<RawEncoder<MemWriter>, IoError>>(obj: &T) -> IoResult<String> {
+  let serial = try!(serialize(obj));
+  Ok(serial.as_slice().to_hex())
+}
+
 /// Deserialize an object from a vector
 pub fn deserialize<T: ConsensusDecodable<RawDecoder<MemReader>, IoError>>(data: Vec<u8>) -> IoResult<T> {
   let mut decoder = RawDecoder::new(MemReader::new(data));