diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 3fbfe7b..9959c74 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+- 0.4.10
+	- Add bytes and string handling in inner signer backend
 * 0.4.9
 	- Accept string message format for message signing
 * 0.4.8
diff --git a/crypto_dev_signer/eth/signer/defaultsigner.py b/crypto_dev_signer/eth/signer/defaultsigner.py
index 1490550..9c2a7d6 100644
--- a/crypto_dev_signer/eth/signer/defaultsigner.py
+++ b/crypto_dev_signer/eth/signer/defaultsigner.py
@@ -46,8 +46,10 @@ class ReferenceSigner(Signer):
         #z = keys.ecdsa_sign(message_hash=g, private_key=k)
         z = None
         if type(message).__name__ == 'str':
+            logg.debug('signing message in "str" format: {}'.format(message))
             z = k.sign_msg(message.encode('utf-8'))
         elif type(message).__name__ == 'bytes':
+            logg.debug('signing message in "bytes" format: {}'.format(message.hex()))
             z = k.sign_msg(message)
         else:
             raise ValueError('message must be type str or bytes, received {}'.format(type(message).__name__))
diff --git a/crypto_dev_signer/eth/web3ext/middleware.py b/crypto_dev_signer/eth/web3ext/middleware.py
index fd734f0..ab0df1b 100644
--- a/crypto_dev_signer/eth/web3ext/middleware.py
+++ b/crypto_dev_signer/eth/web3ext/middleware.py
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ class PlatformMiddleware:
             s = socket.socket(family=socket.AF_UNIX, type=socket.SOCK_STREAM, proto=0)
             ipc_provider_workaround = s.connect(self.ipcaddr)
             logg.info('redirecting method {}  params {} original params {}'.format(method, params, suspect_params))
-            o = jsonrpc_request(method, params[0])
+            o = jsonrpc_request(method, params[0], params[1])
             j = json.dumps(o)
             logg.debug('send {}'.format(j))
             s.send(j.encode('utf-8'))
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d256851..eace084 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ f.close()
 
 setup(
         name="crypto-dev-signer",
-        version="0.4.9",
+        version="0.4.10",
         description="A signer and keystore daemon and library for cryptocurrency software development",
         author="Louis Holbrook",
         author_email="dev@holbrook.no",
diff --git a/test/test_sign.py b/test/test_sign.py
index 0f1026b..5ce5c23 100644
--- a/test/test_sign.py
+++ b/test/test_sign.py
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ class TestSign(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_sign_message(self):
         s = ReferenceSigner(self.pk_getter)
         z = s.signEthereumMessage(tx_ints['from'], 'foo')
+        z = s.signEthereumMessage(tx_ints['from'], b'foo')
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':