diff --git a/pkg/core/state/native_state.go b/pkg/core/state/native_state.go
index 605dc1691..d4bd0208d 100644
--- a/pkg/core/state/native_state.go
+++ b/pkg/core/state/native_state.go
@@ -25,12 +25,25 @@ type NEOBalance struct {
 
 // NEP17BalanceFromBytes converts serialized NEP17Balance to structure.
 func NEP17BalanceFromBytes(b []byte) (*NEP17Balance, error) {
-	balance := new(NEP17Balance)
-	err := balanceFromBytes(b, balance)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+	if len(b) < 4 {
+		if len(b) == 0 {
+			return new(NEP17Balance), nil
+		}
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid format")
 	}
-	return balance, nil
+	if b[0] != byte(stackitem.StructT) {
+		return nil, errors.New("not a struct")
+	}
+	if b[1] != 1 {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid item count")
+	}
+	if st := stackitem.Type(b[2]); st != stackitem.IntegerT {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid balance: %s", st)
+	}
+	if int(b[3]) != len(b[4:]) {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid balance format")
+	}
+	return &NEP17Balance{Balance: *bigint.FromBytes(b[4:])}, nil
 }
 
 // Bytes returns serialized NEP17Balance.
diff --git a/pkg/core/state/native_state_test.go b/pkg/core/state/native_state_test.go
index b590f93b1..6cb6f4a61 100644
--- a/pkg/core/state/native_state_test.go
+++ b/pkg/core/state/native_state_test.go
@@ -20,6 +20,31 @@ func TestNEP17Balance_Bytes(t *testing.T) {
 		ret := b.Bytes(buf[:0])
 		require.Equal(t, ret, buf[:len(ret)])
 	})
+
+	actual, err := NEP17BalanceFromBytes(data)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, &b, actual)
+}
+
+func TestNEP17BalanceFromBytesInvalid(t *testing.T) {
+	b, err := NEP17BalanceFromBytes(nil) // 0 is ok
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, int64(0), b.Balance.Int64())
+
+	_, err = NEP17BalanceFromBytes([]byte{byte(stackitem.StructT)})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+
+	_, err = NEP17BalanceFromBytes([]byte{byte(stackitem.IntegerT), 4, 0, 1, 2, 3})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+
+	_, err = NEP17BalanceFromBytes([]byte{byte(stackitem.StructT), 0, byte(stackitem.IntegerT), 1, 1})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+
+	_, err = NEP17BalanceFromBytes([]byte{byte(stackitem.StructT), 1, byte(stackitem.ByteArrayT), 1, 1})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+
+	_, err = NEP17BalanceFromBytes([]byte{byte(stackitem.StructT), 1, byte(stackitem.IntegerT), 2, 1})
+	require.Error(t, err)
 }
 
 func BenchmarkNEP17BalanceBytes(b *testing.B) {
@@ -48,3 +73,23 @@ func BenchmarkNEP17BalanceBytes(b *testing.B) {
 		}
 	})
 }
+
+func BenchmarkNEP17BalanceFromBytes(b *testing.B) {
+	var bl NEP17Balance
+	bl.Balance.SetInt64(0x12345678910)
+
+	buf := bl.Bytes(nil)
+
+	b.Run("stackitem", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+		for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+			_ = stackitem.DeserializeConvertible(buf, new(NEP17Balance))
+		}
+	})
+	b.Run("from bytes", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+		for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+			_, _ = NEP17BalanceFromBytes(buf)
+		}
+	})
+}