diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 26454d818..7c6582fa8 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ clap = "^2.23.3"
 daemonize = "^0.2.3"
 serde = "~1.0.8"
 serde_derive = "~1.0.8"
-serde_json = "=1.0.7"
+serde_json = "~1.0.7"
 slog = { version = "^2.0.12", features = ["max_level_trace", "release_max_level_trace"] }
 
 # TODO - once "patch" is available we should be able to clean up the workspace dependencies
diff --git a/api/Cargo.toml b/api/Cargo.toml
index ad6556e74..5c9d5d8c9 100644
--- a/api/Cargo.toml
+++ b/api/Cargo.toml
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@ mount = "~0.3.0"
 urlencoded = "~0.5.0"
 serde = "~1.0.8"
 serde_derive = "~1.0.8"
-serde_json = "=1.0.7"
+serde_json = "~1.0.7"
diff --git a/grin/Cargo.toml b/grin/Cargo.toml
index 5c75dcd1c..f6bfc512d 100644
--- a/grin/Cargo.toml
+++ b/grin/Cargo.toml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ slog = { version = "^2.0.12", features = ["max_level_trace", "release_max_level_
 time = "^0.1"
 serde = "~1.0.8"
 serde_derive = "~1.0.8"
-serde_json = "=1.0.7"
+serde_json = "~1.0.7"
 tokio-core="~0.1.1"
 tokio-timer="~0.1.0"
 rand = "^0.3"
diff --git a/keychain/Cargo.toml b/keychain/Cargo.toml
index 365ebf1d9..240ce140f 100644
--- a/keychain/Cargo.toml
+++ b/keychain/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,5 +10,5 @@ rand = "~0.3"
 slog = { version = "^2.0.12", features = ["max_level_trace", "release_max_level_trace"] }
 serde = "~1.0.8"
 serde_derive = "~1.0.8"
-serde_json = "=1.0.7"
+serde_json = "~1.0.7"
 grin_util = { path = "../util" }
diff --git a/keychain/src/extkey.rs b/keychain/src/extkey.rs
index 87481a9a0..ebb7a0bf2 100644
--- a/keychain/src/extkey.rs
+++ b/keychain/src/extkey.rs
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ impl<'de> de::Deserialize<'de> for Identifier {
 	where
 		D: de::Deserializer<'de>,
 	{
-		deserializer.deserialize_u64(IdentifierVisitor)
+		deserializer.deserialize_str(IdentifierVisitor)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -108,7 +108,6 @@ impl<'de> de::Visitor<'de> for IdentifierVisitor {
 	where
 		E: de::Error,
 	{
-		// TODO - error handling here
 		let identifier = Identifier::from_hex(s).unwrap();
 		Ok(identifier)
 	}
@@ -299,7 +298,6 @@ mod test {
 		let has_an_identifier = HasAnIdentifier { identifier };
 
 		let json = serde_json::to_string(&has_an_identifier).unwrap();
-
 		assert_eq!(json, "{\"identifier\":\"942b6c0bd43bdcb24f3e\"}");
 
 		let deserialized: HasAnIdentifier = serde_json::from_str(&json).unwrap();
diff --git a/wallet/Cargo.toml b/wallet/Cargo.toml
index 18f83e96d..eda4a92a7 100644
--- a/wallet/Cargo.toml
+++ b/wallet/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ rand = "^0.3"
 blake2-rfc = "~0.2.17"
 serde = "~1.0.8"
 serde_derive = "~1.0.8"
-serde_json = "=1.0.7"
+serde_json = "~1.0.7"
 bodyparser = "~0.7.0"
 futures = "^0.1.15"
 iron = "~0.5.1"