diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4df11a6acd..9139b3a502 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,8 +17,13 @@ and this project adheres to
 
 - @cosmjs/stargate: The error messages for missing types in `AminoTypes` now
   contain the type that was searched for ([#990]).
+- @cosmjs/tendermint-rpc: Change the `Evidence` type to `any` and avoid decoding
+  it. The structure we had before was outdated and trying to decode it led to
+  exceptions at runtime when a block with actual values was encountered.
+  ([#980])
 
 [#990]: https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/pull/990
+[#980]: https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/issues/980
 
 ## [0.27.0] - 2022-01-10
 
diff --git a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/tendermint34/adaptor/responses.ts b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/tendermint34/adaptor/responses.ts
index 172f42781a..b8784188a0 100644
--- a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/tendermint34/adaptor/responses.ts
+++ b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/tendermint34/adaptor/responses.ts
@@ -730,27 +730,9 @@ function decodeValidators(data: RpcValidatorsResponse): responses.ValidatorsResp
   };
 }
 
-interface RpcEvidence {
-  readonly type: string;
-  readonly validator: RpcValidatorUpdate;
-  readonly height: string;
-  readonly time: string;
-  readonly totalVotingPower: string;
-}
-
-function decodeEvidence(data: RpcEvidence): responses.Evidence {
-  return {
-    type: assertNotEmpty(data.type),
-    height: Integer.parse(assertNotEmpty(data.height)),
-    time: Integer.parse(assertNotEmpty(data.time)),
-    totalVotingPower: Integer.parse(assertNotEmpty(data.totalVotingPower)),
-    validator: decodeValidatorUpdate(data.validator),
-  };
-}
-
-function decodeEvidences(ev: readonly RpcEvidence[]): readonly responses.Evidence[] {
-  return assertArray(ev).map(decodeEvidence);
-}
+// We lost track on how the evidence structure actually looks like.
+// This is any now and passed to the caller untouched.
+type RpcEvidence = any;
 
 interface RpcBlock {
   readonly header: RpcHeader;
@@ -759,6 +741,8 @@ interface RpcBlock {
     /** Raw tx bytes, base64 encoded */
     readonly txs?: readonly string[];
   };
+  // It's currently unclear why the deep nesting is requied.
+  // See https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/issues/7697.
   readonly evidence?: {
     readonly evidence?: readonly RpcEvidence[];
   };
@@ -771,7 +755,9 @@ function decodeBlock(data: RpcBlock): responses.Block {
     // { height: '0', round: 0, block_id: { hash: '', parts: [Object] }, signatures: [] }
     lastCommit: data.last_commit.block_id.hash ? decodeCommit(assertObject(data.last_commit)) : null,
     txs: data.data.txs ? assertArray(data.data.txs).map(fromBase64) : [],
-    evidence: data.evidence && may(decodeEvidences, data.evidence.evidence),
+    // Lift up .evidence.evidence to just .evidence
+    // See https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/issues/7697
+    evidence: data.evidence?.evidence,
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/tendermint34/responses.ts b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/tendermint34/responses.ts
index 14066f232a..c7648f6907 100644
--- a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/tendermint34/responses.ts
+++ b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/tendermint34/responses.ts
@@ -227,16 +227,17 @@ export interface Block {
    */
   readonly lastCommit: Commit | null;
   readonly txs: readonly Uint8Array[];
+  // This field becomes non-optional in 0.28 (https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/issues/1011)
   readonly evidence?: readonly Evidence[];
 }
 
-export interface Evidence {
-  readonly type: string;
-  readonly validator: Validator;
-  readonly height: number;
-  readonly time: number;
-  readonly totalVotingPower: number;
-}
+/**
+ * We lost track on how the evidence structure actually looks like.
+ * This is any now and passed to the caller untouched.
+ *
+ * See also https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/issues/980.
+ */
+export type Evidence = any;
 
 export interface Commit {
   readonly blockId: BlockId;