diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 98fab30bc27e2ea7add0b2f062232c8f2191f4fc..dc7473f91ded16226ddffa67e57279919cf436d4 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum v1.8.27
 	github.com/gdamore/tcell v1.1.2
 	github.com/go-zeromq/zmq4 v0.4.0
-	github.com/golang/protobuf v1.3.1 // indirect
+	github.com/golang/protobuf v1.3.1
 	github.com/google/open-location-code/go v0.0.0-20190603181809-cf814bded323
 	github.com/iotaledger/iota.go v1.0.0-beta.6
 	github.com/labstack/echo v3.3.10+incompatible
diff --git a/plugins/autopeering/types/peer/peer_test.go b/plugins/autopeering/types/peer/peer_test.go
index f587001abf445e852595609e6d9da40664e02ba7..8d73ab17ceb794e32ec6361e088c1bc35a4e5252 100644
--- a/plugins/autopeering/types/peer/peer_test.go
+++ b/plugins/autopeering/types/peer/peer_test.go
@@ -20,12 +20,19 @@ func TestPeer_MarshalUnmarshal(t *testing.T) {
 		Salt:        salt.New(30 * time.Second),
 	}
 
-	restoredPeer, _ := Unmarshal(peer.Marshal())
+	restoredPeer, err := Unmarshal(peer.Marshal())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
 
 	assert.Equal(t, peer.Address, restoredPeer.Address)
 	assert.Equal(t, peer.Identity.StringIdentifier, restoredPeer.Identity.StringIdentifier)
 	assert.Equal(t, peer.Identity.PublicKey, restoredPeer.Identity.PublicKey)
 	assert.Equal(t, peer.GossipPort, restoredPeer.GossipPort)
 	assert.Equal(t, peer.PeeringPort, restoredPeer.PeeringPort)
-	assert.Equal(t, peer.Salt, restoredPeer.Salt)
+	assert.Equal(t, peer.Salt.Bytes, restoredPeer.Salt.Bytes)
+	// time.time cannot be compared with reflect.DeepEqual, so we cannot use assert.Equal here
+	if !peer.Salt.ExpirationTime.Equal(restoredPeer.Salt.ExpirationTime) {
+		t.Errorf("got %v want %v", restoredPeer.Salt.ExpirationTime, peer.Salt.ExpirationTime)
+	}
 }