diff --git a/LICENSES-THIRD-PARTY.TXT b/LICENSES-THIRD-PARTY.TXT
index 221f16c397..0cc8a0e4a0 100644
--- a/LICENSES-THIRD-PARTY.TXT
+++ b/LICENSES-THIRD-PARTY.TXT
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ The following third party software components are governed under Apache 2.0 lice
   - Vert.x Web, (c) 2018 https://vertx.io/
   - Apache Log4j, (c) 1999-2018 The Apache Software Foundation https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/
   - Lazysodium, (c) 2018 Terl https://github.com/terl/lazysodium-java
-  - JsonPathAssert, (c) 2018 json-path https://github.com/json-path/JsonPath/tree/master/json-path-assert
 
 The following third party software components are governed under both Apache 2.0 and MIT licenses:
   - jni, (c) 2018 Josh Chase https://github.com/prevoty/jni-rs
diff --git a/exonum-java-binding-common/src/main/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/JsonSerializer.java b/exonum-java-binding-common/src/main/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/JsonSerializer.java
index 3309ca2abe..ddb241b36a 100644
--- a/exonum-java-binding-common/src/main/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/JsonSerializer.java
+++ b/exonum-java-binding-common/src/main/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/JsonSerializer.java
@@ -24,10 +24,14 @@
 import com.google.gson.LongSerializationPolicy;
 
 /**
- * Provides {@link Gson} serializer for converting java objects to Json and vice versa.
+ * Provides {@link Gson} serializer for converting Java objects to Json and vice versa.
+ * It is configured to serialize Exonum objects in a format, compatible with the core framework
+ * and light clients (e.g., {@link HashCode} as a hex string).
  */
 public final class JsonSerializer {
 
+  private static final Gson INSTANCE = builder().create();
+
   /**
    * Returns preconfigured {@link Gson} builder instance. Can be useful in cases when
    * some customization is required. For example, type adapters should be extended or replaced.
@@ -45,7 +49,7 @@ public static GsonBuilder builder() {
    * of the Json serializer is required.
    */
   public static Gson json() {
-    return builder().create();
+    return INSTANCE;
   }
 
   private JsonSerializer() {
diff --git a/exonum-java-binding-common/src/test/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/JsonSerializerTest.java b/exonum-java-binding-common/src/test/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/JsonSerializerTest.java
index 21a4742dc6..b47b06538e 100644
--- a/exonum-java-binding-common/src/test/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/JsonSerializerTest.java
+++ b/exonum-java-binding-common/src/test/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/JsonSerializerTest.java
@@ -36,16 +36,16 @@ void longSerializesAsText() {
 
     String json = json().toJson(new Wrapper<>(value));
 
-    assertJson(json, String.valueOf(value));
+    assertJsonValue(json, "10");
   }
 
   @Test
-  void publicKeySerializesAsValue() {
+  void publicKeySerializesAsHexValue() {
     PublicKey value = PublicKey.fromBytes(bytes(0x00, 0x01, 0x02));
 
     String json = json().toJson(new Wrapper<>(value));
 
-    assertJson(json, value.toString());
+    assertJsonValue(json, "000102");
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -54,10 +54,10 @@ void hashCodeSerializesAsValue() {
 
     String json = json().toJson(new Wrapper<>(value));
 
-    assertJson(json, value.toString());
+    assertJsonValue(json, "000102");
   }
 
-  private static void assertJson(String json, Object expectedValue) {
+  private static void assertJsonValue(String json, Object expectedValue) {
     assertThat(json, isJson(withJsonPath("$.value", equalTo(expectedValue))));
   }
 
diff --git a/exonum-java-binding-common/src/test/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/StoredConfigurationGsonSerializerTest.java b/exonum-java-binding-common/src/test/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/StoredConfigurationGsonSerializerTest.java
index 2d6a6bda7c..68a24f008e 100644
--- a/exonum-java-binding-common/src/test/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/StoredConfigurationGsonSerializerTest.java
+++ b/exonum-java-binding-common/src/test/java/com/exonum/binding/common/serialization/json/StoredConfigurationGsonSerializerTest.java
@@ -16,12 +16,12 @@
 
 package com.exonum.binding.common.serialization.json;
 
+import static com.exonum.binding.common.serialization.json.JsonSerializer.json;
 import static java.util.Collections.singletonList;
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.notNullValue;
 import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 
 import com.exonum.binding.common.configuration.ConsensusConfiguration;
 import com.exonum.binding.common.configuration.StoredConfiguration;
@@ -65,28 +65,16 @@ class StoredConfigurationGsonSerializerTest {
   @Test
   void roundTripTest() {
     StoredConfiguration configuration = createConfiguration();
-    StoredConfiguration restoredConfiguration = StoredConfigurationGsonSerializer
-        .fromJson(StoredConfigurationGsonSerializer.toJson(configuration));
+    StoredConfiguration restoredConfiguration = json().fromJson(
+        json().toJson(configuration), StoredConfiguration.class);
 
     assertThat(restoredConfiguration, equalTo(configuration));
   }
 
-  @Test
-  void nullPointerException() {
-    StoredConfiguration configuration = null;
-    String jsonConfiguration = null;
-
-    assertThrows(NullPointerException.class,
-        () -> StoredConfigurationGsonSerializer.toJson(configuration));
-
-    assertThrows(NullPointerException.class,
-        () -> StoredConfigurationGsonSerializer.fromJson(jsonConfiguration));
-  }
-
   @Test
   void readConfiguration() {
-    StoredConfiguration configuration = StoredConfigurationGsonSerializer
-        .fromJson(CONFIG_EXAMPLE);
+    StoredConfiguration configuration = json()
+        .fromJson(CONFIG_EXAMPLE, StoredConfiguration.class);
 
     assertThat(configuration, notNullValue());
     assertThat(configuration.previousCfgHash(),