diff --git a/abci/types/application.go b/abci/types/application.go
index d987a96975..68bae28c40 100644
--- a/abci/types/application.go
+++ b/abci/types/application.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package types
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"encoding/binary"
 
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/crypto/tmhash"
 )
@@ -96,10 +95,8 @@ func (BaseApplication) ApplySnapshotChunk(req RequestApplySnapshotChunk) Respons
 }
 
 func (BaseApplication) PrepareProposal(req RequestPrepareProposal) ResponsePrepareProposal {
-	// we use placeholder values for the hash and square size
-	squareSizeBytes := make([]byte, 8)
-	binary.BigEndian.PutUint64(squareSizeBytes, 0)
-	req.Txs = append(req.Txs, tmhash.Sum(nil), squareSizeBytes)
+	// we use placeholder values for the hash
+	req.Txs = append(req.Txs, tmhash.Sum(nil))
 	return ResponsePrepareProposal{Txs: req.Txs}
 }
 
diff --git a/state/execution.go b/state/execution.go
index 61df306b09..d427386dba 100644
--- a/state/execution.go
+++ b/state/execution.go
@@ -136,27 +136,21 @@ func (blockExec *BlockExecutor) CreateProposalBlock(
 		panic(err)
 	}
 
-	// Celestia passes the data root back as the second to last transaction
-	// and the big endian encoding of the square size as the last transaction.
-	if len(rpp.Txs) < 2 {
+	// Celestia passes the data root back as the last transaction
+	if len(rpp.Txs) < 1 {
 		panic("state machine returned an invalid prepare proposal response: expected at least 2 transactions")
 	}
 
-	if len(rpp.Txs[len(rpp.Txs)-2]) != tmhash.Size {
+	if len(rpp.Txs[len(rpp.Txs)-1]) != tmhash.Size {
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("state machine returned an invalid prepare proposal response: expected second to last transaction to be a hash, got %d bytes", len(rpp.Txs[len(rpp.Txs)-2])))
 	}
 
-	if len(rpp.Txs[len(rpp.Txs)-1]) != 8 {
-		panic("state machine returned an invalid prepare proposal response: expected last transaction to be a uint64 (square size)")
-	}
-
 	// update the block with the response from PrepareProposal
 	block.Data, _ = types.DataFromProto(&cmtproto.Data{
-		Txs: rpp.Txs[:len(rpp.Txs)-2],
+		Txs: rpp.Txs[:len(rpp.Txs)-1],
 	})
 
-	block.DataHash = rpp.Txs[len(rpp.Txs)-2]
-	block.SquareSize = binary.BigEndian.Uint64(rpp.Txs[len(rpp.Txs)-1])
+	block.DataHash = rpp.Txs[len(rpp.Txs)-1]
 
 	var blockDataSize int
 	for _, tx := range block.Txs {