diff --git a/database/entity/0001-init_db/User.ts b/database/entity/0001-init_db/User.ts
index 545d4f5c5..b349e2584 100644
--- a/database/entity/0001-init_db/User.ts
+++ b/database/entity/0001-init_db/User.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { BaseEntity, Entity, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, Column, OneToOne } from 'ty
 import { Balance } from '../Balance'
 
 // Moriz: I do not like the idea of having two user tables
-@Entity('state_users')
+@Entity('state_users', { engine: 'InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci' })
 export class User extends BaseEntity {
   @PrimaryGeneratedColumn('increment', { unsigned: true })
   id: number
@@ -16,16 +16,28 @@ export class User extends BaseEntity {
   @Column({ type: 'binary', length: 32, name: 'public_key' })
   pubkey: Buffer
 
-  @Column({ length: 255, nullable: true, default: null })
+  @Column({ length: 255, nullable: true, default: null, collation: 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci' })
   email: string
 
-  @Column({ name: 'first_name', length: 255, nullable: true, default: null })
+  @Column({
+    name: 'first_name',
+    length: 255,
+    nullable: true,
+    default: null,
+    collation: 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
+  })
   firstName: string
 
-  @Column({ name: 'last_name', length: 255, nullable: true, default: null })
+  @Column({
+    name: 'last_name',
+    length: 255,
+    nullable: true,
+    default: null,
+    collation: 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
+  })
   lastName: string
 
-  @Column({ length: 255, nullable: true, default: null })
+  @Column({ length: 255, nullable: true, default: null, collation: 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci' })
   username: string
 
   @Column()
diff --git a/database/entity/0002-add_settings/User.ts b/database/entity/0002-add_settings/User.ts
index 6f3067c79..78e774489 100644
--- a/database/entity/0002-add_settings/User.ts
+++ b/database/entity/0002-add_settings/User.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { BaseEntity, Entity, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, Column, OneToMany } from 't
 import { UserSetting } from './UserSetting'
 
 // Moriz: I do not like the idea of having two user tables
-@Entity('state_users')
+@Entity('state_users', { engine: 'InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci' })
 export class User extends BaseEntity {
   @PrimaryGeneratedColumn('increment', { unsigned: true })
   id: number
@@ -16,16 +16,28 @@ export class User extends BaseEntity {
   @Column({ type: 'binary', length: 32, name: 'public_key' })
   pubkey: Buffer
 
-  @Column({ length: 255, nullable: true, default: null })
+  @Column({ length: 255, nullable: true, default: null, collation: 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci' })
   email: string
 
-  @Column({ name: 'first_name', length: 255, nullable: true, default: null })
+  @Column({
+    name: 'first_name',
+    length: 255,
+    nullable: true,
+    default: null,
+    collation: 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
+  })
   firstName: string
 
-  @Column({ name: 'last_name', length: 255, nullable: true, default: null })
+  @Column({
+    name: 'last_name',
+    length: 255,
+    nullable: true,
+    default: null,
+    collation: 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
+  })
   lastName: string
 
-  @Column({ length: 255, nullable: true, default: null })
+  @Column({ length: 255, nullable: true, default: null, collation: 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci' })
   username: string
 
   @Column()