diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 25c0dff660..24af4cb72e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ src/qt/test/moc*.cpp
 *.bak
 *.rej
 *.orig
+*.pyc
 *.o
 *.o-*
 *.patch
diff --git a/src/Makefile.test.include b/src/Makefile.test.include
index b54c9be664..7e25430e3e 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.test.include
+++ b/src/Makefile.test.include
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
-TESTS += test/test_bitcoin
+TESTS += test/test_bitcoin test/bitcoin-util-test.py
 bin_PROGRAMS += test/test_bitcoin
 TEST_SRCDIR = test
 TEST_BINARY=test/test_bitcoin$(EXEEXT)
 
+
+EXTRA_DIST += \
+	test/bctest.py \
+	test/bitcoin-util-test.py \
+	test/data/bitcoin-util-test.json \
+	test/data/blanktx.hex
+
 JSON_TEST_FILES = \
   test/data/script_valid.json \
   test/data/base58_keys_valid.json \
diff --git a/src/test/bctest.py b/src/test/bctest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3b17acb75e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/bctest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Copyright 2014 BitPay, Inc.
+# Distributed under the MIT/X11 software license, see the accompanying
+# file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+
+import subprocess
+import os
+import json
+import sys
+
+def bctest(testDir, testObj):
+	execargs = testObj['exec']
+	outputFn = testObj['output_cmp']
+	outputData = open(testDir + "/" + outputFn).read()
+
+	proc = subprocess.Popen(execargs, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+	try:
+		outs = proc.communicate()
+	except OSError:
+		print("OSError, Failed to execute " + execargs[0])
+		sys.exit(1)
+
+	if outs[0] != outputData:
+		print("Output data mismatch for " + outputFn)
+		sys.exit(1)
+
+def bctester(testDir, input_basename):
+	input_filename = testDir + "/" + input_basename
+	raw_data = open(input_filename).read()
+	input_data = json.loads(raw_data)
+
+	for testObj in input_data:
+		bctest(testDir, testObj)
+
+	sys.exit(0)
+
diff --git a/src/test/bitcoin-util-test.py b/src/test/bitcoin-util-test.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..40690c2fed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/bitcoin-util-test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+# Copyright 2014 BitPay, Inc.
+# Distributed under the MIT/X11 software license, see the accompanying
+# file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+
+import os
+import bctest
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+	bctest.bctester(os.environ["srcdir"] + "/test/data",
+			"bitcoin-util-test.json")
+
diff --git a/src/test/data/bitcoin-util-test.json b/src/test/data/bitcoin-util-test.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..af29fd75a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/data/bitcoin-util-test.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+[
+  { "exec": ["./bitcoin-tx", "-create"],
+    "output_cmp": "blanktx.hex"
+  }
+]
diff --git a/src/test/data/blanktx.hex b/src/test/data/blanktx.hex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..36b6f00fb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/data/blanktx.hex
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+01000000000000000000