diff --git a/crypto/ecdsa/ecdsa.go b/crypto/ecdsa/ecdsa.go
index dff2b8f0..2a2e99f6 100644
--- a/crypto/ecdsa/ecdsa.go
+++ b/crypto/ecdsa/ecdsa.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"fmt"
 	"math/big"
-	"slices"
 
 	"github.com/relab/hotstuff"
 	"github.com/relab/hotstuff/crypto"
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 7168b12a..ff762534 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ go 1.22.1
 require (
 	github.com/felixge/fgprof v0.9.4
 	github.com/golang/mock v1.6.0
+	github.com/golang/protobuf v1.5.4
 	github.com/kilic/bls12-381 v0.1.1-0.20210208205449-6045b0235e36
 	github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20
 	github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir v1.1.0
@@ -44,7 +45,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/go-pdf/fpdf v0.9.0 // indirect
 	github.com/gogo/protobuf v1.3.2 // indirect
 	github.com/golang/freetype v0.0.0-20170609003504-e2365dfdc4a0 // indirect
-	github.com/golang/protobuf v1.5.4 // indirect
 	github.com/gonuts/binary v0.2.0 // indirect
 	github.com/google/go-cmp v0.6.0 // indirect
 	github.com/google/pprof v0.0.0-20240227163752-401108e1b7e7 // indirect