diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 09a8900a8..8cfa659d2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 0.15.0-rc2
+
+### Breaking Changes
+
+- [\#304](https://github.com/cosmos/iavl/pull/304) Empty trees now return hashes rather than `nil` 
+  from e.g. `Hash()`, `WorkingHash()`, and `SaveVersion()`, for conformance with RFC-6962.
+
 ## 0.15.0-rc1 (July 30, 2020)
 
 The IAVL project has moved from https://github.com/tendermint/iavl to
diff --git a/basic_test.go b/basic_test.go
index de7d09fd6..efb8d1f88 100644
--- a/basic_test.go
+++ b/basic_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package iavl
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	mrand "math/rand"
 	"sort"
 	"testing"
@@ -429,7 +430,7 @@ func TestTreeProof(t *testing.T) {
 	db := db.NewMemDB()
 	tree, err := NewMutableTree(db, 100)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, tree.Hash(), []byte(nil))
+	assert.Equal(t, "e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", hex.EncodeToString(tree.Hash()))
 
 	// should get false for proof with nil root
 	value, proof, err := tree.GetWithProof([]byte("foo"))
diff --git a/immutable_tree.go b/immutable_tree.go
index a8be53b01..d9f16e9a1 100644
--- a/immutable_tree.go
+++ b/immutable_tree.go
@@ -127,18 +127,12 @@ func (t *ImmutableTree) Has(key []byte) bool {
 
 // Hash returns the root hash.
 func (t *ImmutableTree) Hash() []byte {
-	if t.root == nil {
-		return nil
-	}
 	hash, _ := t.root.hashWithCount()
 	return hash
 }
 
 // hashWithCount returns the root hash and hash count.
 func (t *ImmutableTree) hashWithCount() ([]byte, int64) {
-	if t.root == nil {
-		return nil, 0
-	}
 	return t.root.hashWithCount()
 }
 
diff --git a/mutable_tree.go b/mutable_tree.go
index 346683d6a..eb210dce0 100644
--- a/mutable_tree.go
+++ b/mutable_tree.go
@@ -74,10 +74,7 @@ func (tree *MutableTree) AvailableVersions() []int {
 // Hash returns the hash of the latest saved version of the tree, as returned
 // by SaveVersion. If no versions have been saved, Hash returns nil.
 func (tree *MutableTree) Hash() []byte {
-	if tree.version > 0 {
-		return tree.lastSaved.Hash()
-	}
-	return nil
+	return tree.lastSaved.Hash()
 }
 
 // WorkingHash returns the hash of the current working tree.
diff --git a/node.go b/node.go
index c399353a4..bec49eeb8 100644
--- a/node.go
+++ b/node.go
@@ -218,7 +218,12 @@ func (node *Node) _hash() []byte {
 
 // Hash the node and its descendants recursively. This usually mutates all
 // descendant nodes. Returns the node hash and number of nodes hashed.
+// If the tree is empty (i.e. the node is nil), returns the hash of an empty input,
+// to conform with RFC-6962.
 func (node *Node) hashWithCount() ([]byte, int64) {
+	if node == nil {
+		return sha256.New().Sum(nil), 0
+	}
 	if node.hash != nil {
 		return node.hash, 0
 	}
diff --git a/tree_test.go b/tree_test.go
index fd123fef0..c875de13d 100644
--- a/tree_test.go
+++ b/tree_test.go
@@ -301,24 +301,24 @@ func TestVersionedEmptyTree(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(err)
 
 	hash, v, err := tree.SaveVersion()
-	require.Nil(hash)
-	require.EqualValues(1, v)
 	require.NoError(err)
+	require.Equal("e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", hex.EncodeToString(hash))
+	require.EqualValues(1, v)
 
 	hash, v, err = tree.SaveVersion()
-	require.Nil(hash)
-	require.EqualValues(2, v)
 	require.NoError(err)
+	require.Equal("e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", hex.EncodeToString(hash))
+	require.EqualValues(2, v)
 
 	hash, v, err = tree.SaveVersion()
-	require.Nil(hash)
-	require.EqualValues(3, v)
 	require.NoError(err)
+	require.Equal("e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", hex.EncodeToString(hash))
+	require.EqualValues(3, v)
 
 	hash, v, err = tree.SaveVersion()
-	require.Nil(hash)
-	require.EqualValues(4, v)
 	require.NoError(err)
+	require.Equal("e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", hex.EncodeToString(hash))
+	require.EqualValues(4, v)
 
 	require.EqualValues(4, tree.Version())
 
@@ -1183,20 +1183,22 @@ func TestVersionedTreeHash(t *testing.T) {
 	tree, err := getTestTree(0)
 	require.NoError(err)
 
-	require.Nil(tree.Hash())
+	require.Equal("e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", hex.EncodeToString(tree.Hash()))
 	tree.Set([]byte("I"), []byte("D"))
-	require.Nil(tree.Hash())
+	require.Equal("e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", hex.EncodeToString(tree.Hash()))
 
-	hash1, _, _ := tree.SaveVersion()
+	hash1, _, err := tree.SaveVersion()
+	require.NoError(err)
 
 	tree.Set([]byte("I"), []byte("F"))
 	require.EqualValues(hash1, tree.Hash())
 
-	hash2, _, _ := tree.SaveVersion()
+	hash2, _, err := tree.SaveVersion()
+	require.NoError(err)
 
 	val, proof, err := tree.GetVersionedWithProof([]byte("I"), 2)
 	require.NoError(err)
-	require.EqualValues(val, []byte("F"))
+	require.EqualValues([]byte("F"), val)
 	require.NoError(proof.Verify(hash2))
 	require.NoError(proof.VerifyItem([]byte("I"), val))
 }