diff --git a/nip13/helpers.go b/nip13/helpers.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33eb8c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nip13/helpers.go
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+package nip13
+
+const (
+	maxSafeAscii       = 126
+	minSafeAscii       = 35
+	availableSafeAscii = maxSafeAscii - minSafeAscii
+)
+
+func uintToStringCrazy(num uint64) string {
+	nchars := 1 + num/availableSafeAscii
+	chars := make([]byte, nchars)
+
+	i := 0
+	for {
+		if num < availableSafeAscii {
+			chars[i] = byte(num + minSafeAscii)
+			break
+		} else {
+			chars[i] = byte(num/availableSafeAscii + minSafeAscii)
+			num -= availableSafeAscii
+			i++
+		}
+	}
+	return string(chars)
+}
diff --git a/nip13/nip13.go b/nip13/nip13.go
index ee01d4c..9198031 100644
--- a/nip13/nip13.go
+++ b/nip13/nip13.go
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ func Generate(event *nostr.Event, targetDifficulty int, timeout time.Duration) (
 	start := time.Now()
 	for {
 		nonce++
-		tag[1] = strconv.FormatUint(nonce, 10)
+		tag[1] = uintToStringCrazy(nonce)
 		if Difficulty(event.GetID()) >= targetDifficulty {
 			return event, nil
 		}
diff --git a/nip13/nip13_test.go b/nip13/nip13_test.go
index 3d1821d..ccd7393 100644
--- a/nip13/nip13_test.go
+++ b/nip13/nip13_test.go
@@ -100,8 +100,8 @@ func testNonceTag(t *testing.T, event *nostr.Event, commitment int) {
 	if tag[0] != "nonce" {
 		t.Errorf("tag[0] = %q; want 'nonce'", tag[0])
 	}
-	if n, err := strconv.ParseInt(tag[1], 10, 64); err != nil || n < 1 {
-		t.Errorf("tag[1] = %q; want an int greater than 0", tag[1])
+	if len(tag[1]) < 0 {
+		t.Errorf("tag[1] = %q; want a nonce character", tag[1])
 	}
 	if n, err := strconv.Atoi(tag[2]); err != nil || n != commitment {
 		t.Errorf("tag[2] = %q; want %d", tag[2], commitment)