diff --git a/core/src/apps/cardano/helpers/utils.py b/core/src/apps/cardano/helpers/utils.py
index 6246581fe2..e0af3ada0b 100644
--- a/core/src/apps/cardano/helpers/utils.py
+++ b/core/src/apps/cardano/helpers/utils.py
@@ -18,17 +18,12 @@ def variable_length_encode(number: int) -> bytes:
     if number < 0:
         raise ValueError("Negative numbers not supported. Number supplied: %s" % number)
 
-    encoded = []
-
-    bit_length = len(bin(number)[2:])
-    encoded.append(number & 127)
-
-    while bit_length > 7:
+    encoded = [number & 0x7F]
+    while number > 0x7F:
         number >>= 7
-        bit_length -= 7
-        encoded.insert(0, (number & 127) + 128)
+        encoded.append((number & 0x7F) + 0x80)
 
-    return bytes(encoded)
+    return bytes(reversed(encoded))
 
 
 def to_account_path(path: list[int]) -> list[int]: