diff --git a/src/h3_blackwell_runtime/csrc/nvfp4_scale.cu b/src/h3_blackwell_runtime/csrc/nvfp4_scale.cu
index 18c3a56..de86db8 100644
--- a/src/h3_blackwell_runtime/csrc/nvfp4_scale.cu
+++ b/src/h3_blackwell_runtime/csrc/nvfp4_scale.cu
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ __inline__ __device__ uint8_t encode_fp4_e2m1(float value) {
   } else if (abs_value >= 0.25f) {
     code = 1;
   }
-  return negative && code != 0 ? static_cast<uint8_t>(code | 0x8u) : code;
+  return negative ? static_cast<uint8_t>(code | 0x8u) : code;
 }
 
 __inline__ __device__ uint8_t encode_fp8_e4m3(float value) {