diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index dc979d2..2179dc5 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 use log::warn;
 use simple_logger::SimpleLogger;
-use std::ffi::{CStr, CString};
+use std::ffi::CStr;
 use std::os::raw::c_char;
 use tiktoken_rs;
 use tiktoken_rs::CoreBPE;
@@ -462,22 +462,14 @@ pub extern "C" fn tiktoken_corebpe_decode(
 
 #[no_mangle]
 pub extern "C" fn tiktoken_c_version() -> *const c_char {
-    const TIKTOKEN_C_VERSION: &str = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
-    let c_str = match CString::new(TIKTOKEN_C_VERSION.to_string()) {
-        Ok(c_str) => c_str,
-        Err(_) => {
-            warn!("Failed to convert to CString!");
-            // "unknown" version
-            CString::new("unknown".to_string()).unwrap()
-        }
-    };
-    let ptr = c_str.into_raw();
-    ptr
+    static VERSION: &str = concat!(env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION"), "\0");
+    VERSION.as_ptr() as *const c_char
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
+    use std::ffi::CString;
 
     #[test]
     fn test_tiktoken_c_version() {