diff --git a/src/ripple/protocol/Serializer.h b/src/ripple/protocol/Serializer.h
index ab6ce13aa2..6192be29e2 100644
--- a/src/ripple/protocol/Serializer.h
+++ b/src/ripple/protocol/Serializer.h
@@ -51,12 +51,13 @@ public:
 
     Serializer (void const* data, std::size_t size)
     {
-        assert(!data == !size);
-
         mData.resize(size);
 
         if (size)
+        {
+            assert(data != nullptr);
             std::memcpy(mData.data(), data, size);
+        }
     }
 
     Slice slice() const noexcept