diff --git a/base32.c b/base32.c
index 1da7e63327..42675e5b5d 100644
--- a/base32.c
+++ b/base32.c
@@ -33,22 +33,22 @@ static inline void base32_8to5_raw(const uint8_t *in, uint8_t length, uint8_t *o
 static inline int base32_encode_character(uint8_t decoded, const char *alphabet);
 static inline int base32_decode_character(char encoded, const char *alphabet);
 
-bool base32_encode(const uint8_t *in, size_t inlen, char *out, size_t outlen, const char *alphabet) {
+char *base32_encode(const uint8_t *in, size_t inlen, char *out, size_t outlen, const char *alphabet) {
 	size_t length = base32_encoded_length(inlen);
 	if (outlen <= length) {
-		return false;
+		return NULL;
 	}
 
 	base32_encode_unsafe(in, inlen, (uint8_t *) out);
 
 	for (size_t i = 0; i < length; i++) {
 		if ((out[i] = base32_encode_character(out[i], alphabet)) == -1) {
-			return false;
+			return NULL;
 		}
 	}
 
 	out[length] = '\0';
-	return true;
+	return &out[length];
 }
 
 uint8_t *base32_decode(const char *in, size_t inlen, uint8_t *out, size_t outlen, const char *alphabet) {
diff --git a/base32.h b/base32.h
index a4dcbc8da5..2509979673 100644
--- a/base32.h
+++ b/base32.h
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
 extern const char *BASE32_ALPHABET_RFC4648;
 
-bool base32_encode(const uint8_t *in, size_t inlen, char *out, size_t outlen, const char *alphabet);
+char *base32_encode(const uint8_t *in, size_t inlen, char *out, size_t outlen, const char *alphabet);
 void base32_encode_unsafe(const uint8_t *in, size_t inlen, uint8_t *out);
 
 uint8_t *base32_decode(const char *in, size_t inlen, uint8_t *out, size_t outlen, const char *alphabet);
diff --git a/test_check.c b/test_check.c
index 4659460fae..78b97cd81c 100644
--- a/test_check.c
+++ b/test_check.c
@@ -527,11 +527,11 @@ START_TEST(test_base32_rfc4648)
 		ck_assert_int_eq(outlen, base32_encoded_length(inlen));
 		ck_assert_int_eq(inlen, base32_decoded_length(outlen));
 
-		ck_assert(base32_encode((uint8_t *) in, inlen, buffer, sizeof(buffer), BASE32_ALPHABET_RFC4648));
+		ck_assert(base32_encode((uint8_t *) in, inlen, buffer, sizeof(buffer), BASE32_ALPHABET_RFC4648) != NULL);
 		ck_assert_str_eq(buffer, out);
 
 		char *ret = (char *) base32_decode(out, outlen, (uint8_t *) buffer, sizeof(buffer), BASE32_ALPHABET_RFC4648);
-		ck_assert(ret);
+		ck_assert(ret != NULL);
 
 		*ret = '\0';
 		ck_assert_str_eq(buffer, in);