diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 25c0dff660b..24af4cb72e4 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 b54c9be6642..7e25430e3eb 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/bitcoin-tx.cpp b/src/bitcoin-tx.cpp
index ffe87298f63..6cd2768d700 100644
--- a/src/bitcoin-tx.cpp
+++ b/src/bitcoin-tx.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <boost/assign/list_of.hpp>
+#include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
 
 using namespace std;
 using namespace boost::assign;
@@ -501,13 +502,34 @@ static void OutputTx(const CTransaction& tx)
         OutputTxHex(tx);
 }
 
+static string readStdin()
+{
+    char buf[4096];
+    string ret;
+
+    while (!feof(stdin)) {
+        size_t bread = fread(buf, 1, sizeof(buf), stdin);
+        ret.append(buf, bread);
+        if (bread < sizeof(buf))
+            break;
+    }
+
+    if (ferror(stdin))
+        throw runtime_error("error reading stdin");
+
+    boost::algorithm::trim_right(ret);
+
+    return ret;
+}
+
 static int CommandLineRawTx(int argc, char* argv[])
 {
     string strPrint;
     int nRet = 0;
     try {
-        // Skip switches
-        while (argc > 1 && IsSwitchChar(argv[1][0])) {
+        // Skip switches; Permit common stdin convention "-"
+        while (argc > 1 && IsSwitchChar(argv[1][0]) &&
+               (argv[1][1] != 0)) {
             argc--;
             argv++;
         }
@@ -522,6 +544,8 @@ static int CommandLineRawTx(int argc, char* argv[])
 
             // param: hex-encoded bitcoin transaction
             string strHexTx(argv[1]);
+            if (strHexTx == "-")                 // "-" implies standard input
+                strHexTx = readStdin();
 
             if (!DecodeHexTx(txDecodeTmp, strHexTx))
                 throw runtime_error("invalid transaction encoding");
diff --git a/src/test/bctest.py b/src/test/bctest.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b1264790839
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/bctest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# 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']
+
+	stdinCfg = None
+	inputData = None
+	if "input" in testObj:
+		filename = testDir + "/" + testObj['input']
+		inputData = open(filename).read()
+		stdinCfg = subprocess.PIPE
+
+	outputFn = testObj['output_cmp']
+	outputData = open(testDir + "/" + outputFn).read()
+
+	proc = subprocess.Popen(execargs, stdin=stdinCfg, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+	try:
+		outs = proc.communicate(input=inputData)
+	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 00000000000..40690c2fed8
--- /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 00000000000..16bcb448981
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/data/bitcoin-util-test.json
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[
+  { "exec": ["./bitcoin-tx", "-create"],
+    "output_cmp": "blanktx.hex"
+  },
+  { "exec": ["./bitcoin-tx", "-"],
+    "input": "blanktx.hex",
+    "output_cmp": "blanktx.hex"
+  }
+]
diff --git a/src/test/data/blanktx.hex b/src/test/data/blanktx.hex
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..36b6f00fb67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/data/blanktx.hex
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+01000000000000000000