diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/BitmessageContext.java b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/BitmessageContext.java
index f54a8f9..9344b41 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/BitmessageContext.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/BitmessageContext.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.Msg;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.ObjectPayload;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.ObjectType;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.Pubkey.Feature;
-import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.valueobject.InventoryVector;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.valueobject.Label;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.valueobject.PrivateKey;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.ApplicationException;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/entity/BitmessageAddress.java b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/entity/BitmessageAddress.java
index 931776c..632bd70 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/entity/BitmessageAddress.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/entity/BitmessageAddress.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.Pubkey;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.V4Pubkey;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.valueobject.PrivateKey;
+import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.ApplicationException;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.utils.AccessCounter;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.utils.Base58;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.utils.Bytes;
@@ -83,7 +84,7 @@ public class BitmessageAddress implements Serializable {
             os.write(checksum, 0, 4);
             this.address = "BM-" + Base58.encode(os.toByteArray());
         } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
     }
 
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ public class BitmessageAddress implements Serializable {
                 this.publicDecryptionKey = Arrays.copyOfRange(checksum, 0, 32);
             }
         } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
     }
 
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ public class BitmessageAddress implements Serializable {
             out.write(ripe);
             return Arrays.copyOfRange(security().doubleSha512(out.toByteArray()), 32, 64);
         } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/entity/ObjectMessage.java b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/entity/ObjectMessage.java
index 3425c63..a24bf6b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/entity/ObjectMessage.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/entity/ObjectMessage.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.ObjectType;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.Pubkey;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.valueobject.InventoryVector;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.valueobject.PrivateKey;
+import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.ApplicationException;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.DecryptionFailedException;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.utils.Bytes;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.utils.Encode;
@@ -110,7 +111,7 @@ public class ObjectMessage implements MessagePayload {
             payload.writeBytesToSign(out);
             return out.toByteArray();
         } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
     }
 
@@ -144,7 +145,7 @@ public class ObjectMessage implements MessagePayload {
                 ((Encrypted) payload).encrypt(publicKey.getEncryptionKey());
             }
         } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
     }
 
@@ -180,7 +181,7 @@ public class ObjectMessage implements MessagePayload {
             }
             return payloadBytes;
         } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/AbstractCryptography.java b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/AbstractCryptography.java
index 3cf3f0d..81252d5 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/AbstractCryptography.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/AbstractCryptography.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package ch.dissem.bitmessage.ports;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.InternalContext;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.ObjectMessage;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.Pubkey;
+import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.ApplicationException;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.InsufficientProofOfWorkException;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.factory.Factory;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.utils.Bytes;
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractCryptography implements Cryptography, InternalCont
         try {
             return MessageDigest.getInstance(algorithm, provider);
         } catch (GeneralSecurityException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
     }
 
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractCryptography implements Cryptography, InternalCont
             mac.init(new SecretKeySpec(key_m, "HmacSHA256"));
             return mac.doFinal(data);
         } catch (GeneralSecurityException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/MemoryNodeRegistry.java b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/MemoryNodeRegistry.java
index 8d43423..c68a474 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/MemoryNodeRegistry.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/MemoryNodeRegistry.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 package ch.dissem.bitmessage.ports;
 
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.valueobject.NetworkAddress;
+import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.ApplicationException;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.utils.UnixTime;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ public class MemoryNodeRegistry implements NodeRegistry {
                 }
             }
         } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/MultiThreadedPOWEngine.java b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/MultiThreadedPOWEngine.java
index 790e3b7..50164a3 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/MultiThreadedPOWEngine.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/ports/MultiThreadedPOWEngine.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 package ch.dissem.bitmessage.ports;
 
+import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.ApplicationException;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.utils.Bytes;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -49,7 +50,7 @@ public class MultiThreadedPOWEngine implements ProofOfWorkEngine {
         try {
             semaphore.acquire();
         } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            throw new ApplicationException(e);
         }
         callback = new CallbackWrapper(callback);
         int cores = Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors();
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ public class MultiThreadedPOWEngine implements ProofOfWorkEngine {
                 mda = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-512");
             } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
                 LOG.error(e.getMessage(), e);
-                throw new RuntimeException(e);
+                throw new ApplicationException(e);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/utils/Base58.java b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/utils/Base58.java
index ec2476a..9f35fb7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/utils/Base58.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/utils/Base58.java
@@ -44,27 +44,27 @@ public class Base58 {
     /**
      * Encodes the given bytes in base58. No checksum is appended.
      *
-     * @param input to encode
+     * @param data to encode
      * @return base58 encoded input
      */
-    public static String encode(byte[] input) {
-        if (input.length == 0) {
+    public static String encode(byte[] data) {
+        if (data.length == 0) {
             return "";
         }
-        input = copyOfRange(input, 0, input.length);
+        final byte[] bytes = copyOfRange(data, 0, data.length);
         // Count leading zeroes.
         int zeroCount = 0;
-        while (zeroCount < input.length && input[zeroCount] == 0) {
+        while (zeroCount < bytes.length && bytes[zeroCount] == 0) {
             ++zeroCount;
         }
         // The actual encoding.
-        byte[] temp = new byte[input.length * 2];
+        byte[] temp = new byte[bytes.length * 2];
         int j = temp.length;
 
         int startAt = zeroCount;
-        while (startAt < input.length) {
-            byte mod = divmod58(input, startAt);
-            if (input[startAt] == 0) {
+        while (startAt < bytes.length) {
+            byte mod = divmod58(bytes, startAt);
+            if (bytes[startAt] == 0) {
                 ++startAt;
             }
             temp[--j] = (byte) ALPHABET[mod];
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ public class Base58 {
             char c = input.charAt(i);
 
             int digit58 = -1;
-            if (c >= 0 && c < 128) {
+            if (c < 128) {
                 digit58 = INDEXES[c];
             }
             if (digit58 < 0) {
diff --git a/extensions/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/extensions/CryptoCustomMessage.java b/extensions/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/extensions/CryptoCustomMessage.java
index eb2c4e7..33c7524 100644
--- a/extensions/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/extensions/CryptoCustomMessage.java
+++ b/extensions/src/main/java/ch/dissem/bitmessage/extensions/CryptoCustomMessage.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.CustomMessage;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.Streamable;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.CryptoBox;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.entity.payload.Pubkey;
-import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.ApplicationException;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.exception.DecryptionFailedException;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.factory.Factory;
 import ch.dissem.bitmessage.utils.Encode;