diff --git a/src/main/java/org/bitcoinj/core/AltcoinBlock.java b/src/main/java/org/bitcoinj/core/AltcoinBlock.java
index 5579eb30..496576d3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/bitcoinj/core/AltcoinBlock.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/bitcoinj/core/AltcoinBlock.java
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ import org.libdohj.core.AuxPoWNetworkParameters;
  * specifically using {@link Peer#getBlock(Sha256Hash)}, or grab one from a downloaded {@link BlockChain}.
  */
 public class AltcoinBlock extends org.bitcoinj.core.Block {
+    private static final int BYTE_BITS = 8;
+
     private boolean auxpowParsed = false;
     private boolean auxpowBytesValid = false;
 
@@ -167,7 +169,16 @@ public class AltcoinBlock extends org.bitcoinj.core.Block {
      * @return flags as a bitset. 
      */
     public BitSet getVersionFlags() {
-        return BitSet.valueOf(new long[] {(this.getRawVersion() & 0xff00) >> 8});
+        final BitSet bitset = new BitSet(BYTE_BITS);
+        final int bits = (int) (this.getRawVersion() & 0xff00) >> 8;
+
+        for (int bit = 0; bit < BYTE_BITS; bit++) {
+            if ((bits & (1 << bit)) > 0) {
+                bitset.set(bit);
+            }
+        }
+
+        return bitset;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/bitcoinj/core/AltcoinBlockTest.java b/src/test/java/org/bitcoinj/core/AltcoinBlockTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f56500ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/bitcoinj/core/AltcoinBlockTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2015 jrn.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.bitcoinj.core;
+
+import java.util.BitSet;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertArrayEquals;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import org.libdohj.params.DogecoinMainNetParams;
+
+/**
+ *
+ * @author jrn
+ */
+public class AltcoinBlockTest {
+    private final NetworkParameters params = DogecoinMainNetParams.get();
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() throws Exception {
+        Context context = new Context(params);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test extraction of flags from the block version, for coins with AuxPoW
+     * support.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testGetVersionFlags() {
+        AltcoinBlock block = new AltcoinBlock(params, 0L);
+        BitSet expected = new BitSet(8);
+        assertArrayEquals(block.getVersionFlags().toByteArray(), expected.toByteArray());
+
+        // Set everything but the version flags
+        block = new AltcoinBlock(params, 0xffff00ff);
+        assertArrayEquals(block.getVersionFlags().toByteArray(), expected.toByteArray());
+
+        // Set everything
+        block = new AltcoinBlock(params, 0xffffffff);
+        expected.set(0, 8);
+        assertArrayEquals(block.getVersionFlags().toByteArray(), expected.toByteArray());
+
+        // Set only the version flags
+        block = new AltcoinBlock(params, 0x0000ff00);
+        assertArrayEquals(block.getVersionFlags().toByteArray(), expected.toByteArray());
+
+        // Set some of the version flags
+        block = new AltcoinBlock(params, 0x00001700);
+        expected.clear(0, 8);
+        expected.set(0, 3);
+        expected.set(4);
+        assertArrayEquals(block.getVersionFlags().toByteArray(), expected.toByteArray());
+    }
+}