diff --git a/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentdf/platform/sdk/TDF.java b/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentdf/platform/sdk/TDF.java
index faa082e6..f74b3cb6 100644
--- a/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentdf/platform/sdk/TDF.java
+++ b/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentdf/platform/sdk/TDF.java
@@ -596,7 +596,9 @@ public TDFObject createTDF(InputStream payload,
             assertion.appliesToState = assertionConfig.appliesToState.toString();
 
             var assertionHashAsHex = assertion.hash();
-            var assertionHash = Hex.decodeHex(assertionHashAsHex);
+            var assertionHash = tdfConfig.hexEncodeRootAndSegmentHashes
+                ? assertionHashAsHex.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
+                : Hex.decodeHex(assertionHashAsHex);
             byte[] completeHash = new byte[aggregateHash.size() + assertionHash.length];
             System.arraycopy(aggregateHash.toByteArray(), 0, completeHash, 0, aggregateHash.size());
             System.arraycopy(assertionHash, 0, completeHash, aggregateHash.size(), assertionHash.length);
diff --git a/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentdf/platform/sdk/TDFTest.java b/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentdf/platform/sdk/TDFTest.java
index e4031bcb..8a03dd09 100644
--- a/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentdf/platform/sdk/TDFTest.java
+++ b/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentdf/platform/sdk/TDFTest.java
@@ -500,11 +500,21 @@ public void testCreateTDFWithMimeType() throws Exception {
     @Test
     public void legacyTDFRoundTrips() throws DecoderException, IOException, ExecutionException, JOSEException, InterruptedException, ParseException, NoSuchAlgorithmException {
         final String mimeType = "application/pdf";
+        var assertionConfig1 = new AssertionConfig();
+        assertionConfig1.id = "assertion1";
+        assertionConfig1.type = AssertionConfig.Type.BaseAssertion;
+        assertionConfig1.scope = AssertionConfig.Scope.TrustedDataObj;
+        assertionConfig1.appliesToState = AssertionConfig.AppliesToState.Unencrypted;
+        assertionConfig1.statement = new AssertionConfig.Statement();
+        assertionConfig1.statement.format = "base64binary";
+        assertionConfig1.statement.schema = "text";
+        assertionConfig1.statement.value = "ICAgIDxlZGoOkVkaD4=";
 
         Config.TDFConfig config = Config.newTDFConfig(
                 Config.withAutoconfigure(false),
                 Config.withKasInformation(getRSAKASInfos()),
                 Config.withTargetMode("4.2.1"),
+                Config.withAssertionConfig(assertionConfig1),
                 Config.withMimeType(mimeType));
 
         byte[] data = new byte[129];
@@ -537,6 +547,15 @@ public void legacyTDFRoundTrips() throws DecoderException, IOException, Executio
         reader.readPayload(dataOutputStream);
         assertThat(reader.getManifest().payload.mimeType).isEqualTo(mimeType);
         assertArrayEquals(data, dataOutputStream.toByteArray(), "extracted data does not match");
+        var manifest = reader.getManifest();
+        var assertions = manifest.assertions;
+        assertThat(assertions.size()).isEqualTo(1);
+        var assertion = assertions.get(0);
+        assertThat(assertion.id).isEqualTo("assertion1");
+        assertThat(assertion.statement.format).isEqualTo("base64binary");
+        assertThat(assertion.statement.schema).isEqualTo("text");
+        assertThat(assertion.statement.value).isEqualTo("ICAgIDxlZGoOkVkaD4=");
+        assertThat(assertion.type).isEqualTo(AssertionConfig.Type.BaseAssertion.toString());
     }
 
     @Nonnull