diff --git a/lib/bcoin/wallet.js b/lib/bcoin/wallet.js
index 5384de6f..4d96626b 100644
--- a/lib/bcoin/wallet.js
+++ b/lib/bcoin/wallet.js
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ function Wallet(options, passphrase) {
       pers: options.scope,
       entropy: hash.sha256().update(options.passphrase).digest()
     });
-  } else if (options.priv) {
-    this.key = bcoin.ecdsa.keyPair(options.priv);
+  } else if (options.priv || options.pub) {
+    this.key = bcoin.ecdsa.keyPair(options.priv || options.pub, 'hex');
   } else {
     this.key = bcoin.ecdsa.genKeyPair();
   }