diff --git a/cmd/kvcli/main.go b/cmd/kvcli/main.go
index 1754403f..48c0876b 100644
--- a/cmd/kvcli/main.go
+++ b/cmd/kvcli/main.go
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/keys"
-	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/lcd"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/rpc"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/tx"
 
@@ -20,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	//stakecmd "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/stake/client/cli"
 
 	"github.com/kava-labs/kava/internal/app"
+	"github.com/kava-labs/kava/internal/lcd"
 	//"github.com/kava-labs/kava/internal/types"
 )
 
diff --git a/internal/lcd/decode.go b/internal/lcd/decode.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..96769dd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/lcd/decode.go
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+package lcd
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	//"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"encoding/json"
+
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/context"
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/wire"
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/auth"
+)
+
+type TxBody struct {
+	TxBase64 string `json:"txbase64"`
+}
+
+// Decode a tx from base64 into json
+func DecodeTxRequestHandlerFn(ctx context.CoreContext, cdc *wire.Codec) http.HandlerFunc {
+	return func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		// get the input base64 string
+		var m TxBody
+		decoder := json.NewDecoder(r.Body)
+		err := decoder.Decode(&m)
+		if err != nil {
+			w.WriteHeader(400)
+			w.Write([]byte(err.Error()))
+			return
+		}
+
+		// convert from base64 string to bytes
+		txBytes, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(m.TxBase64)
+		if err != nil {
+			w.WriteHeader(400)
+			w.Write([]byte(err.Error()))
+			return
+		}
+
+		// convert bytes to Tx struct
+		var tx auth.StdTx
+		err = cdc.UnmarshalBinary(txBytes, &tx)
+		if err != nil {
+			w.WriteHeader(400)
+			w.Write([]byte(err.Error()))
+			return
+		}
+
+		// convert Tx struct to json (bytes) and return
+		output, err := cdc.MarshalJSON(tx)
+		if err != nil {
+			w.WriteHeader(500)
+			w.Write([]byte(err.Error()))
+			return
+		}
+
+		w.Write(output)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/lcd/root.go b/internal/lcd/root.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6bd82cff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/lcd/root.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+package lcd
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/gorilla/mux"
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+	"github.com/tendermint/tmlibs/log"
+
+	tmserver "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/rpc/lib/server"
+	cmn "github.com/tendermint/tmlibs/common"
+
+	client "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client"
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/context"
+	keys "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/keys"
+	rpc "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/rpc"
+	tx "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/tx"
+	version "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/version"
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/wire"
+	auth "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/auth/client/rest"
+	bank "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/bank/client/rest"
+	//ibc "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/ibc/client/rest"
+	//stake "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/stake/client/rest"
+)
+
+// ServeCommand will generate a long-running rest server
+// (aka Light Client Daemon) that exposes functionality similar
+// to the cli, but over rest
+func ServeCommand(cdc *wire.Codec) *cobra.Command {
+	flagListenAddr := "laddr"
+	flagCORS := "cors"
+
+	cmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "rest-server",
+		Short: "Start LCD (light-client daemon), a local REST server",
+		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			listenAddr := viper.GetString(flagListenAddr)
+			handler := createHandler(cdc)
+			logger := log.NewTMLogger(log.NewSyncWriter(os.Stdout)).
+				With("module", "rest-server")
+			listener, err := tmserver.StartHTTPServer(listenAddr, handler, logger)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			logger.Info("REST server started")
+
+			// Wait forever and cleanup
+			cmn.TrapSignal(func() {
+				err := listener.Close()
+				logger.Error("Error closing listener", "err", err)
+			})
+			return nil
+		},
+	}
+	cmd.Flags().StringP(flagListenAddr, "a", "tcp://localhost:1317", "Address for server to listen on")
+	cmd.Flags().String(flagCORS, "", "Set to domains that can make CORS requests (* for all)")
+	cmd.Flags().StringP(client.FlagChainID, "c", "", "ID of chain we connect to")
+	cmd.Flags().StringP(client.FlagNode, "n", "tcp://localhost:46657", "Node to connect to")
+	return cmd
+}
+
+func createHandler(cdc *wire.Codec) http.Handler {
+	r := mux.NewRouter()
+	r.HandleFunc("/version", version.RequestHandler).Methods("GET")
+
+	kb, err := keys.GetKeyBase() //XXX
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	ctx := context.NewCoreContextFromViper()
+
+	// TODO make more functional? aka r = keys.RegisterRoutes(r)
+	keys.RegisterRoutes(r)
+	rpc.RegisterRoutes(ctx, r)
+	tx.RegisterRoutes(ctx, r, cdc)
+	auth.RegisterRoutes(ctx, r, cdc, "acc")
+	bank.RegisterRoutes(ctx, r, cdc, kb)
+	//ibc.RegisterRoutes(ctx, r, cdc, kb)
+	//stake.RegisterRoutes(ctx, r, cdc, kb)
+	r.HandleFunc("/decode_tx", DecodeTxRequestHandlerFn(ctx, cdc)).Methods("POST")
+	return r
+}
diff --git a/internal/lcd/wire.go b/internal/lcd/wire.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f146e102
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/lcd/wire.go
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package lcd
+
+import (
+	amino "github.com/tendermint/go-amino"
+	ctypes "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/rpc/core/types"
+)
+
+var cdc = amino.NewCodec()
+
+func init() {
+	ctypes.RegisterAmino(cdc)
+}