diff --git a/typescript/sdk/src/ism/metadata/aggregation.ts b/typescript/sdk/src/ism/metadata/aggregation.ts
index 7a298090e8..57196fddb2 100644
--- a/typescript/sdk/src/ism/metadata/aggregation.ts
+++ b/typescript/sdk/src/ism/metadata/aggregation.ts
@@ -65,11 +65,10 @@ export class AggregationIsmMetadataBuilder
       r.status === 'fulfilled' ? r.value ?? null : null,
     );
     const included = submoduleMetadata.filter((m) => m !== null).length;
-    if (included < context.ism.threshold) {
-      throw new Error(
-        `Only built ${included} of ${context.ism.threshold} required modules`,
-      );
-    }
+    assert(
+      included < context.ism.threshold,
+      `Only built ${included} of ${context.ism.threshold} required modules`,
+    );
 
     return AggregationIsmMetadataBuilder.encode({
       ...context.ism,
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 9cfee7cc2b..38072e6019 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -5231,7 +5231,6 @@ __metadata:
   resolution: "@hyperlane-xyz/utils@workspace:typescript/utils"
   dependencies:
     "@cosmjs/encoding": "npm:^0.31.3"
-    "@ethersproject/bytes": "npm:^5.7.0"
     "@solana/web3.js": "npm:^1.78.0"
     "@types/mocha": "npm:^10.0.1"
     bignumber.js: "npm:^9.1.1"