diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/core/PeerGroup.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/core/PeerGroup.java
index 305094e78..febdf3710 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/core/PeerGroup.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/core/PeerGroup.java
@@ -561,9 +561,12 @@ public class PeerGroup {
      */
     public ChannelFuture connectTo(SocketAddress address) {
         ChannelFuture future = bootstrap.connect(address);
-        TCPNetworkConnection connection = (TCPNetworkConnection)future.getChannel().getPipeline().get("codec");
-        if (connection != null)
-            connection.setRemoteAddress(address);
+        TCPNetworkConnection.NetworkHandler networkHandler =
+                (TCPNetworkConnection.NetworkHandler) future.getChannel().getPipeline().get("codec");
+        if (networkHandler != null) {
+            // This can be null in unit tests or apps that don't use TCP connections.
+            networkHandler.getOwnerObject().setRemoteAddress(address);
+        }
         Peer peer = peerFromChannelFuture(future);
         channelFutures.put(peer, future);
         return future;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/core/TCPNetworkConnection.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/core/TCPNetworkConnection.java
index 279139093..095d0760b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/core/TCPNetworkConnection.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/core/TCPNetworkConnection.java
@@ -16,14 +16,6 @@
 
 package com.google.bitcoin.core;
 
-import static org.jboss.netty.channel.Channels.write;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.net.InetAddress;
-import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
-import java.net.SocketAddress;
-import java.util.Date;
-
 import org.jboss.netty.buffer.ChannelBuffer;
 import org.jboss.netty.buffer.ChannelBufferInputStream;
 import org.jboss.netty.buffer.ChannelBufferOutputStream;
@@ -34,6 +26,14 @@ import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.replay.VoidEnum;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.InetAddress;
+import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
+import java.net.SocketAddress;
+import java.util.Date;
+
+import static org.jboss.netty.channel.Channels.write;
+
 /**
  * A {@code TCPNetworkConnection} is used for connecting to a Bitcoin node over the standard TCP/IP protocol.<p>
  *
@@ -173,6 +173,10 @@ public class TCPNetworkConnection {
             serializer.serialize(message, new ChannelBufferOutputStream(buffer));
             write(ctx, e.getFuture(), buffer, e.getRemoteAddress());
         }
+
+        public TCPNetworkConnection getOwnerObject() {
+            return TCPNetworkConnection.this;
+        }
     }
     
     /** Returns the Netty Pipeline stage handling Bitcoin serialization for this connection. */