diff --git a/Sources/BitcoinKitPrivate/BitcoinKit.Private.swift b/Sources/BitcoinKitPrivate/BitcoinKit.Private.swift
index 83006ab2..4d88c9fc 100644
--- a/Sources/BitcoinKitPrivate/BitcoinKit.Private.swift
+++ b/Sources/BitcoinKitPrivate/BitcoinKit.Private.swift
@@ -228,9 +228,7 @@ public class _HDKey {
             //if BN_is_zero(privateKeyNum) {
             //    return nil
             //}
-            if privateKeyNum.pointee.top == 0 { // BN_is_zero
-                return nil
-            }
+
             let numBytes = ((BN_num_bits(privateKeyNum)+7)/8) // BN_num_bytes
             result = Data(count: Int(numBytes))
             result.withUnsafeMutableBytes { (ptr: UnsafeMutableRawBufferPointer) in