diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6be34104..7cc1a597 100755
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 (***pre-alpha & experimental, not well tested or easy to use yet***)
 
 [![Open Source Love](https://badges.frapsoft.com/os/v3/open-source.png?v=103)](https://github.com/ellerbrock/open-source-badges/)
+<img src='https://gitlab.com/beardog/Onionr/badges/master/build.svg'>
 
 <hr>
 
diff --git a/onionr/cryptotests.py b/onionr/cryptotests.py
deleted file mode 100755
index f7927fb8..00000000
--- a/onionr/cryptotests.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
-'''
-    Onionr - P2P Microblogging Platform & Social network
-    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-    (at your option) any later version.
-
-    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-    GNU General Public License for more details.
-
-    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-    along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-'''
-import unittest, sys, os, core, onionrcrypto, logger
-
-class OnionrCryptoTests(unittest.TestCase):
-    def testSymmetric(self):
-        dataString = "this is a secret message"
-        dataBytes = dataString.encode()
-        myCore = core.Core()
-        crypto = onionrcrypto.OnionrCrypto(myCore)
-        key = key = b"tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt"
-
-        logger.info("Encrypting: " + dataString, timestamp=True)
-        encrypted = crypto.symmetricEncrypt(dataString, key, returnEncoded=True)
-        logger.info(encrypted, timestamp=True)
-        logger.info('Decrypting encrypted string:', timestamp=True)
-        decrypted = crypto.symmetricDecrypt(encrypted, key, encodedMessage=True)
-        logger.info(decrypted, timestamp=True)
-        self.assertTrue(True)
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    unittest.main()
diff --git a/onionr/onionrcrypto.py b/onionr/onionrcrypto.py
index 074c8aa1..883098a3 100755
--- a/onionr/onionrcrypto.py
+++ b/onionr/onionrcrypto.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
     along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 '''
 import nacl.signing, nacl.encoding, nacl.public, nacl.hash, nacl.pwhash, nacl.utils, nacl.secret, os, binascii, base64, hashlib, logger, onionrproofs, time, math, sys, hmac
-import onionrexceptions, keymanager
+import onionrexceptions, keymanager, core
 # secrets module was added into standard lib in 3.6+
 if sys.version_info[0] == 3 and sys.version_info[1] < 6:
     from dependencies import secrets
@@ -180,12 +180,6 @@ class OnionrCrypto:
             decrypted = base64.b64encode(decrypted)
         return decrypted
 
-    def generateSymmetricPeer(self, peer):
-        '''Generate symmetric key for a peer and save it to the peer database'''
-        key = self.generateSymmetric()
-        self._core.setPeerInfo(peer, 'forwardKey', key)
-        return
-
     def generateSymmetric(self):
         '''Generate a symmetric key (bytes) and return it'''
         return binascii.hexlify(nacl.utils.random(nacl.secret.SecretBox.KEY_SIZE))
@@ -283,6 +277,15 @@ class OnionrCrypto:
 
     @staticmethod
     def safeCompare(one, two):
+        # Do encode here to avoid spawning core
+        try:
+            one = one.encode()
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
+        try:
+            two = two.encode()
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
         return hmac.compare_digest(one, two)
         
     @staticmethod
diff --git a/onionr/tests/test_stringvalidations.py b/onionr/tests/test_stringvalidations.py
index 9616c412..0cc45eae 100644
--- a/onionr/tests/test_stringvalidations.py
+++ b/onionr/tests/test_stringvalidations.py
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 import sys, os
 sys.path.append(".")
-import unittest, uuid, sqlite3
+import unittest, uuid
 TEST_DIR = 'testdata/%s-%s' % (uuid.uuid4(), os.path.basename(__file__)) + '/'
 print("Test directory:", TEST_DIR)
 os.environ["ONIONR_HOME"] = TEST_DIR
-from urllib.request import pathname2url
 import core, onionr
 
 core.Core()
@@ -37,7 +36,7 @@ class OnionrValidations(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertTrue(c._utils.validatePubKey(valid))
 
         for x in invalid:
-            print('testing', x)
+            #print('testing', x)
             self.assertFalse(c._utils.validatePubKey(x))
     
     def test_integer_string(self):
@@ -46,13 +45,11 @@ class OnionrValidations(unittest.TestCase):
         c = core.Core()
 
         for x in valid:
-            print('testing', x)
+            #print('testing', x)
             self.assertTrue(c._utils.isIntegerString(x))   
         
         for x in invalid:
-            print('testing', x)
+            #print('testing', x)
             self.assertFalse(c._utils.isIntegerString(x))
     
-    
-
 unittest.main()
\ No newline at end of file