diff --git a/bigchaindb/core.py b/bigchaindb/core.py
index cb511f10..10369395 100644
--- a/bigchaindb/core.py
+++ b/bigchaindb/core.py
@@ -217,18 +217,18 @@ class Bigchain(object):
         else:
             return None
 
-    def get_tx_by_payload_hash(self, payload_hash):
+    def get_tx_by_payload_uuid(self, payload_uuid):
         """Retrieves transactions related to a digital asset.
 
         When creating a transaction one of the optional arguments is the `payload`. The payload is a generic
         dict that contains information about the digital asset.
 
-        To make it easy to query the bigchain for that digital asset we create a sha3-256 hash of the
-        serialized payload and store it with the transaction. This makes it easy for developers to keep track
-        of their digital assets in bigchain.
+        To make it easy to query the bigchain for that digital asset we create a UUID for the payload and 
+        store it with the transaction. This makes it easy for developers to keep track of their digital 
+        assets in bigchain.
 
         Args:
-            payload_hash (str): sha3-256 hash of the serialized payload.
+            payload_uuid (str): the UUID for this particular payload.
 
         Returns:
             A list of transactions containing that payload. If no transaction exists with that payload it
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ class Bigchain(object):
         """
 
         cursor = r.table('bigchain') \
-            .get_all(payload_hash, index='payload_hash') \
+            .get_all(payload_uuid, index='payload_uuid') \
             .run(self.conn)
 
         transactions = list(cursor)
diff --git a/bigchaindb/db/utils.py b/bigchaindb/db/utils.py
index 726a08b7..882c982c 100644
--- a/bigchaindb/db/utils.py
+++ b/bigchaindb/db/utils.py
@@ -56,10 +56,6 @@ def init():
     r.db(dbname).table('bigchain')\
         .index_create('payload_uuid', r.row['block']['transactions']['transaction']['data']['uuid'], multi=True)\
         .run(conn)
-    # secondary index for payload hash
-    r.db(dbname).table('bigchain')\
-        .index_create('payload_hash', r.row['block']['transactions']['transaction']['data']['hash'], multi=True)\
-        .run(conn)
 
     # wait for rethinkdb to finish creating secondary indexes
     r.db(dbname).table('backlog').index_wait().run(conn)