diff --git a/src/taoensso/nippy/tools.clj b/src/taoensso/nippy/tools.clj
index 6656805..58d1456 100644
--- a/src/taoensso/nippy/tools.clj
+++ b/src/taoensso/nippy/tools.clj
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@
   "Like `nippy/thaw` but takes options from *thaw-opts* binding, and wraps
   encrypted bytes for easy identification when no password has been provided
   for decryption."
-  [ba & {:keys [default-opts]}]
-  (let [result (nippy/thaw ba (merge (or *thaw-opts* default-opts)
+  [ba & [{:keys [default-opts]}]]
+  (let [result (nippy/thaw ba (merge default-opts *thaw-opts*
                                      {:taoensso.nippy/tools-thaw? true}))]
     (if (= result :taoensso.nippy/need-password)
       (EncryptedFrozen. ba)
@@ -46,4 +46,4 @@
 
 (comment (thaw (nippy/freeze "c" {:password [:cached "p"]}))
          (with-thaw-opts {:password [:cached "p"]}
-           (thaw (nippy/freeze "c" {:password [:cached "p"]}))))
\ No newline at end of file
+           (thaw (nippy/freeze "c" {:password [:cached "p"]}))))
diff --git a/src/taoensso/nippy/utils.clj b/src/taoensso/nippy/utils.clj
index de65983..23c4924 100644
--- a/src/taoensso/nippy/utils.clj
+++ b/src/taoensso/nippy/utils.clj
@@ -92,4 +92,4 @@
 
 (comment (String. (ba-concat (.getBytes "foo") (.getBytes "bar")))
          (let [[x y] (ba-split (.getBytes "foobar") 5)]
-           [(String. x) (String. y)]))
\ No newline at end of file
+           [(String. x) (String. y)]))