diff --git a/src/wuttaweb/forms/widgets.py b/src/wuttaweb/forms/widgets.py
index 2541195..0af8bab 100644
--- a/src/wuttaweb/forms/widgets.py
+++ b/src/wuttaweb/forms/widgets.py
@@ -224,9 +224,9 @@ class WuttaMoneyInputWidget(MoneyInputWidget):
         readonly = kw.get('readonly', self.readonly)
         if readonly:
             if cstruct in (colander.null, None):
-                return ""
+                return HTML.tag('span')
             cstruct = decimal.Decimal(cstruct)
-            return self.app.render_currency(cstruct)
+            return HTML.tag('span', c=[self.app.render_currency(cstruct)])
 
         return super().serialize(field, cstruct, **kw)
 
diff --git a/tests/forms/test_widgets.py b/tests/forms/test_widgets.py
index 71f0dc0..f98210c 100644
--- a/tests/forms/test_widgets.py
+++ b/tests/forms/test_widgets.py
@@ -131,11 +131,11 @@ class TestWuttaMoneyInputWidget(WebTestCase):
 
         # readonly is rendered per app convention
         result = widget.serialize(field, str(amount), readonly=True)
-        self.assertEqual(result, '$12.34')
+        self.assertEqual(result, '<span>$12.34</span>')
 
         # readonly w/ null value
         result = widget.serialize(field, None, readonly=True)
-        self.assertEqual(result, '')
+        self.assertEqual(result, '<span></span>')
 
 
 class TestFileDownloadWidget(WebTestCase):