diff --git a/lib/utils/ipfs.js b/lib/utils/ipfs.js
index 7382bda..a2440a8 100644
--- a/lib/utils/ipfs.js
+++ b/lib/utils/ipfs.js
@@ -50,11 +50,15 @@ class IPFS {
       return fetch(`${this._config['gatewayUrl']}/${ipfsHash}`).then(r => r.text());
     } else {
       const res = this._ipfsAPI.cat(ipfsHash);
+      // ipfs-http-client >= 56 yields Uint8Array chunks. Their toString()
+      // returns comma-separated byte values instead of text, so decode the
+      // bytes explicitly (TextDecoder works in both Node and browsers).
+      const decoder = new TextDecoder();
       let str = '';
-      for await (const buffer of res) {
-        str += buffer.toString();
+      for await (const chunk of res) {
+        str += decoder.decode(chunk, { stream: true });
       }
-      return Promise.resolve(str);
+      return Promise.resolve(str + decoder.decode());
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 65ecb90..0678443 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@kredits/contracts",
-  "version": "7.5.0",
+  "version": "7.5.1",
   "description": "Smart contracts and JavaScript API for Kredits",
   "main": "./lib/kredits.js",
   "directories": {