diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 942c4e7c1..355b79907 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # CHANGELOG
 
+## master
+
+Changes:
+
+- Optimize `u8aToHex` with direct (non-hex) conversion
+
+
 ## 9.1.1 Apr 30, 2022
 
 Contributed:
diff --git a/packages/util/src/compact/fromU8a.spec.ts b/packages/util/src/compact/fromU8a.spec.ts
index 915017c7a..4be95136f 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/compact/fromU8a.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/compact/fromU8a.spec.ts
@@ -14,16 +14,17 @@ describe('compactFromU8a', (): void => {
 
   it('decodes from same u16 encoded value', (): void => {
     expect(
-      compactFromU8a(new Uint8Array([0b11111101, 0b00000111]))
-    ).toEqual([2, new BN(511)]);
+      compactFromU8a(new Uint8Array([0b11111101, 0b00000111])).toString()
+    ).toEqual(
+      [2, new BN(511)].toString()
+    );
   });
 
   it('decodes from same u32 encoded value (short)', (): void => {
     expect(
-      compactFromU8a(new Uint8Array([254, 255, 3, 0]))
+      compactFromU8a(new Uint8Array([254, 255, 3, 0])).toString()
     ).toEqual(
-      // since we use in-place, the words are different... HACK it
-      [4, new BN(0xffff).ishln(16).ishrn(16)]
+      [4, new BN(0xffff)].toString()
     );
   });
 
diff --git a/packages/util/src/compact/fromU8a.ts b/packages/util/src/compact/fromU8a.ts
index f0913fa17..4ad99fbcf 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/compact/fromU8a.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/compact/fromU8a.ts
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@
 
 import type { U8aLike } from '../types';
 
-import { BN, BN_FOUR } from '../bn';
+import { BN, BN_FIVE } from '../bn';
 import { u8aToBn, u8aToU8a } from '../u8a';
 
 /**
  * @name compactFromU8a
- * @description Retrievs the offset and encoded length from a compact-prefixed value
+ * @description Retrives the offset and encoded length from a compact-prefixed value
  * @example
  * <BR>
  *
@@ -32,12 +32,10 @@ export function compactFromU8a (input: U8aLike): [number, BN] {
     return [4, u8aToBn(u8a.subarray(0, 4), true).ishrn(2)];
   }
 
-  const offset = 1 + (
-    new BN(u8a[0])
-      .ishrn(2) // clear flag
-      .iadd(BN_FOUR) // add 4 for base length
-      .toNumber()
-  );
+  const offset = new BN(u8a[0])
+    .ishrn(2) // clear flag
+    .iadd(BN_FIVE) // add 4 for base length, 1 for this byte
+    .toNumber();
 
   return [offset, u8aToBn(u8a.subarray(1, offset), true)];
 }
diff --git a/packages/util/src/hex/toBn.ts b/packages/util/src/hex/toBn.ts
index 94dde73e8..0d6eaa86e 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/hex/toBn.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/hex/toBn.ts
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ import { isBoolean } from '../is/boolean';
 import { objectSpread } from '../object/spread';
 import { hexStripPrefix } from './stripPrefix';
 
-const DEFAULT_OPTS: ToBnOptions = { isLe: false, isNegative: false };
-
 /**
  * @name hexToBn
  * @summary Creates a BN.js object from a hex string.
@@ -28,12 +26,13 @@ const DEFAULT_OPTS: ToBnOptions = { isLe: false, isNegative: false };
  * hexToBn('0x123480001f'); // => BN(0x123480001f)
  * ```
  */
-export function hexToBn (value?: string | null, options: ToBnOptions | boolean = DEFAULT_OPTS): BN {
+export function hexToBn (value?: string | null, options: ToBnOptions | boolean = {}): BN {
   if (!value || value === '0x') {
     return new BN(0);
   }
 
-  const { isLe, isNegative }: ToBnOptions = objectSpread(
+  // For hex, default to BE
+  const { isLe, isNegative } = objectSpread<ToBnOptions>(
     { isLe: false, isNegative: false },
     isBoolean(options)
       ? { isLe: options }
@@ -43,7 +42,7 @@ export function hexToBn (value?: string | null, options: ToBnOptions | boolean =
   const bn = new BN(stripped, 16, isLe ? 'le' : 'be');
 
   // fromTwos takes as parameter the number of bits, which is the hex length
-  // multiplied by 4.
+  // multiplied by 4 (2 bytes being 8 bits)
   return isNegative
     ? bn.fromTwos(stripped.length * 4)
     : bn;
diff --git a/packages/util/src/u8a/toBigInt.spec.ts b/packages/util/src/u8a/toBigInt.spec.ts
index d15497121..6be9ad183 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/u8a/toBigInt.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/u8a/toBigInt.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright 2017-2022 @polkadot/util authors & contributors
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
+import { performance } from '../test/performance';
 import { u8aToBigInt } from '.';
 
 describe('u8aToBigInt', (): void => {
@@ -56,4 +57,6 @@ describe('u8aToBigInt', (): void => {
       )
     ).toEqual(-1234n);
   });
+
+  performance('u8aToBigInt', 500000, [[new Uint8Array([0x68, 0x65, 0x6c, 0x6c])]], u8aToBigInt);
 });
diff --git a/packages/util/src/u8a/toBigInt.ts b/packages/util/src/u8a/toBigInt.ts
index 5d135708b..68a52e1bc 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/u8a/toBigInt.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/u8a/toBigInt.ts
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ export function u8aToBigInt (value: Uint8Array, options: ToBnOptions = {}): bigi
     return BigInt(0);
   }
 
-  const { isLe, isNegative }: ToBnOptions = objectSpread({ isLe: true, isNegative: false }, options);
+  const { isLe, isNegative } = objectSpread<ToBnOptions>({ isLe: true, isNegative: false }, options);
   const u8a = isLe
     ? value.reverse()
     : value;
diff --git a/packages/util/src/u8a/toBn.spec.ts b/packages/util/src/u8a/toBn.spec.ts
index 2565efe2a..5d8e06e53 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/u8a/toBn.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/u8a/toBn.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright 2017-2022 @polkadot/util authors & contributors
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
+import { performance } from '../test/performance';
 import { u8aToBn } from '.';
 
 describe('u8aToBn', (): void => {
@@ -89,4 +90,6 @@ describe('u8aToBn', (): void => {
       )
     ).toBe(true);
   });
+
+  performance('u8aToBn', 500000, [[new Uint8Array([0x68, 0x65, 0x6c, 0x6c])]], u8aToBn);
 });
diff --git a/packages/util/src/u8a/toBn.ts b/packages/util/src/u8a/toBn.ts
index 8cbf3b811..095b431cc 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/u8a/toBn.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/u8a/toBn.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 // Copyright 2017-2022 @polkadot/util authors & contributors
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-import type { BN } from '../bn/bn';
 import type { ToBnOptions } from '../types';
 
-import { hexToBn } from '../hex/toBn';
-import { u8aToHex } from './toHex';
-
-const DEFAULT_OPTS: ToBnOptions = { isLe: true, isNegative: false };
+import { BN } from '../bn/bn';
+import { isBoolean } from '../is/boolean';
+import { objectSpread } from '../object/spread';
 
 /**
  * @name u8aToBn
@@ -27,9 +25,18 @@ const DEFAULT_OPTS: ToBnOptions = { isLe: true, isNegative: false };
  * u8aToHex(new Uint8Array([0x68, 0x65, 0x6c, 0x6c, 0xf])); // 0x68656c0f
  * ```
  */
-export function u8aToBn (value: Uint8Array, options: ToBnOptions | boolean = DEFAULT_OPTS): BN {
-  return hexToBn(
-    u8aToHex(value),
-    options
+export function u8aToBn (value: Uint8Array, options: ToBnOptions | boolean = {}): BN {
+  // NOTE: This is the same process as followed in the hex conversion
+  // For Uint8Array, default to LE
+  const { isLe, isNegative } = objectSpread<ToBnOptions>(
+    { isLe: true, isNegative: false },
+    isBoolean(options)
+      ? { isLe: options }
+      : options
   );
+  const bn = new BN(value, isLe ? 'le' : 'be');
+
+  return isNegative
+    ? bn.fromTwos(value.length * 8)
+    : bn;
 }