diff --git a/src/Discord.Net.Core/Utils/TokenUtils.cs b/src/Discord.Net.Core/Utils/TokenUtils.cs
index d53b5d3f1..68aad5d96 100644
--- a/src/Discord.Net.Core/Utils/TokenUtils.cs
+++ b/src/Discord.Net.Core/Utils/TokenUtils.cs
@@ -17,6 +17,40 @@ namespace Discord
         /// </remarks>
         internal const int MinBotTokenLength = 58;
 
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     Decodes a base 64 encoded string into a ulong value.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="encoded"> A base 64 encoded string containing a User Id.</param>
+        /// <returns> A ulong containing the decoded value of the string, or null if the value was invalid. </returns>
+        internal static ulong? DecodeBase64UserId(string encoded)
+        {
+            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(encoded))
+                return null;
+
+            try
+            {
+                // decode the base64 string
+                var bytes = Convert.FromBase64String(encoded);
+                var idStr = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes);
+                // try to parse a ulong from the resulting string
+                if (ulong.TryParse(idStr, out var id))
+                    return id;
+            }
+            catch (DecoderFallbackException)
+            {
+                // ignore exception, can be thrown by GetString
+            }
+            catch (FormatException)
+            {
+                // ignore exception, can be thrown if base64 string is invalid
+            }
+            catch (ArgumentException)
+            {
+                // ignore exception, can be thrown by BitConverter
+            }
+            return null;
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         ///     Checks the validity of a bot token by attempting to decode a ulong userid
         ///     from the bot token.
@@ -38,30 +72,8 @@ namespace Discord
             // ensure that there are three parts
             if (segments.Length != 3)
                 return false;
-
-            try
-            {
-                // decode the first segment as base64
-                var bytes = Convert.FromBase64String(segments[0]);
-                var idStr = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes);
-                // discard id
-                return ulong.TryParse(idStr, out var id);
-            }
-            catch (DecoderFallbackException)
-            {
-                // can be thrown by GetString
-                return false;
-            }
-            catch (FormatException)
-            {
-                // ignore exception, if contains invalid base64 characters return false
-                return false;
-            }
-            catch (ArgumentException)
-            {
-                // ignore exceptions thrown by BitConverter
-                return false;
-            }
+            // return true if the user id could be determined
+            return DecodeBase64UserId(segments[0]).HasValue;
         }
 
         /// <summary>
diff --git a/test/Discord.Net.Tests/Tests.TokenUtils.cs b/test/Discord.Net.Tests/Tests.TokenUtils.cs
index 317b8c719..9a1102ec5 100644
--- a/test/Discord.Net.Tests/Tests.TokenUtils.cs
+++ b/test/Discord.Net.Tests/Tests.TokenUtils.cs
@@ -146,5 +146,23 @@ namespace Discord
         {
             Assert.Equal(expected, TokenUtils.CheckBotTokenValidity(token));
         }
+
+        [Theory]
+        // cannot pass a ulong? as a param in InlineData, so have to have a separate param
+        // indicating if a value is null
+        [InlineData("NDI4NDc3OTQ0MDA5MTk1NTIw", false, 428477944009195520)]
+        // should return null w/o throwing other exceptions
+        [InlineData("", true, 0)]
+        [InlineData(" ", true, 0)]
+        [InlineData(null, true, 0)]
+        [InlineData("these chars aren't allowed @U#)*@#!)*", true, 0)]
+        public void TestDecodeBase64UserId(string encodedUserId, bool isNull, ulong expectedUserId)
+        {
+            var result = TokenUtils.DecodeBase64UserId(encodedUserId);
+            if (isNull)
+                Assert.Null(result);
+            else
+                Assert.Equal(expectedUserId, result);
+        }
     }
 }