diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index 0ddd6a9c6..463d6c7f2 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #endif
 
 #include "init.h"
+#include "sodium.h"
 
 #include "addrman.h"
 #include "amount.h"
@@ -632,6 +633,11 @@ bool AppInit2(boost::thread_group& threadGroup, CScheduler& scheduler)
     // ********************************************************* Step 0: Load zcash params
     ZC_LoadParams();
 
+    // Perform libsodium initialization
+    if (sodium_init() == -1) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
     // ********************************************************* Step 1: setup
 #ifdef _MSC_VER
     // Turn off Microsoft heap dump noise
diff --git a/src/test/test_bitcoin.cpp b/src/test/test_bitcoin.cpp
index fa322dcd5..5b5944cd3 100644
--- a/src/test/test_bitcoin.cpp
+++ b/src/test/test_bitcoin.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 #include "test_bitcoin.h"
 
+#include "sodium.h"
+
 #include "key.h"
 #include "main.h"
 #include "random.h"
@@ -30,6 +32,7 @@ extern void noui_connect();
 
 BasicTestingSetup::BasicTestingSetup()
 {
+        assert(sodium_init() != -1);
         ECC_Start();
         SetupEnvironment();
         fPrintToDebugLog = false; // don't want to write to debug.log file
diff --git a/src/zerocash/utils/util.cpp b/src/zerocash/utils/util.cpp
index 846fb5ff4..e1e682ae0 100644
--- a/src/zerocash/utils/util.cpp
+++ b/src/zerocash/utils/util.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-#include <openssl/rand.h>
-#include <openssl/err.h>
-
 #include <string>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <fstream>