diff --git a/src/consensus/encode.rs b/src/consensus/encode.rs
index 05004055..9507734f 100644
--- a/src/consensus/encode.rs
+++ b/src/consensus/encode.rs
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ impl From<psbt::Error> for Error {
 pub fn serialize<T: Encodable + ?Sized>(data: &T) -> Vec<u8> {
     let mut encoder = Vec::new();
     let len = data.consensus_encode(&mut encoder).unwrap();
-    assert_eq!(len, encoder.len());
+    debug_assert_eq!(len, encoder.len());
     encoder
 }