Import a Private Key

Overview

importPrivateKey brings an externally-managed private key into the Dynamic MPC system. The imported wallet is stored as a standard MPC wallet with the canonical share layout (client + Dynamic + optional backup) — there is no insecure “key copy”, and the raw private key is never persisted in plaintext after the import ceremony. Use this for:

Migrating wallets from another custody system
Bringing a wallet you previously exported back into MPC
Onboarding existing on-chain accounts to Dynamic

The Java SDK exposes three flavors:

DynamicEvmWalletClient::importPrivateKey — EVM, takes raw 32 bytes
DynamicSvmWalletClient::importPrivateKey — SVM, takes the 32-byte Ed25519 seed (the seed half of a 64-byte keypair)
DynamicWalletClient::importRawPrivateKey — chain-agnostic, takes a ChainName enum and lets you tune the threshold scheme

Prerequisites

Set up your Dynamic project
An authenticated client (DynamicEvmWalletClient, DynamicSvmWalletClient, or the base DynamicWalletClient)
The raw private key bytes (handle them as byte[] and zero the array after import)

EVM Import

import xyz.dynamic.waas.KeygenResult;
import xyz.dynamic.waas.evm.opts.ImportPrivateKeyOpts;

byte[] privateKey = /* 32 raw bytes — e.g. Numeric.hexStringToByteArray("0x...") */;

KeygenResult wallet = evmClient.importPrivateKey(ImportPrivateKeyOpts.builder()
    .privateKey(privateKey)
    .build()
).join();

String address = wallet.walletProperties().accountAddress();   // EIP-55 hex
System.out.println("Imported EVM wallet: " + address);

// Zero the source bytes immediately.
java.util.Arrays.fill(privateKey, (byte) 0);

SVM Import

import xyz.dynamic.waas.KeygenResult;
import xyz.dynamic.waas.svm.opts.ImportPrivateKeyOpts;

byte[] solanaSeed = /* 32 raw bytes — the seed half of a 64-byte Solana keypair */;

KeygenResult wallet = svmClient.importPrivateKey(ImportPrivateKeyOpts.builder()
    .privateKey(solanaSeed)
    .build()
).join();

String address = wallet.walletProperties().accountAddress();   // base58
System.out.println("Imported Solana wallet: " + address);

java.util.Arrays.fill(solanaSeed, (byte) 0);

Solana’s native Keypair is 64 bytes (seed || pubkey). Pass only the first 32 bytes — importPrivateKey derives the public key itself and would reject a 64-byte input.

Chain-Agnostic Import

When you want a single code path that handles both EVM and Solana, use DynamicWalletClient::importRawPrivateKey:

import xyz.dynamic.waas.DynamicWalletClient;
import xyz.dynamic.waas.KeygenResult;
import xyz.dynamic.waas.core.types.ChainName;
import xyz.dynamic.waas.core.types.ThresholdSignatureScheme;
import xyz.dynamic.waas.opts.ImportRawPrivateKeyOpts;

KeygenResult wallet = baseClient.importRawPrivateKey(
    ChainName.EVM,                                       // or ChainName.SVM
    ImportRawPrivateKeyOpts.builder()
        .privateKey(privateKey)
        .thresholdSignatureScheme(ThresholdSignatureScheme.TWO_OF_TWO)
        .build()
).join();

Backup After Import

importPrivateKey does not back up to Dynamic automatically. After a successful import:

Persist the returned wallet.externalServerKeyShares() to your secrets vault.
If you also want Dynamic-backed storage, call backupKeyShares(...) on the base client with the password you want to use.

// 1) Vault the local shares.
vault.write(
    "wallet:" + wallet.walletProperties().accountAddress() + "/shares",
    ServerKeyShare.toJsonList(wallet.externalServerKeyShares())
);

// 2) Optional: also back up to Dynamic.
baseClient.backupKeyShares(BackupKeySharesOpts.builder()
    .walletProperties(wallet.walletProperties())
    .externalServerKeyShares(wallet.externalServerKeyShares())
    .password("user-password")
    .build()
).join();

Best Practices

Treat the source private key as compromised after import. Anyone who held the key before import still has signing power — rotate any on-chain authority that depends on it.
Zero the source bytes immediately after the import ceremony returns (Arrays.fill(privateKey, (byte) 0)).
Never log the raw key — redact it from all logs, error messages, and exception payloads.
Run the import inside try-with-resources so the wallet client and its native handles are released even if vault writes fail.

Next Steps

Storage Best Practices — persist what the import returned
Sign EVM messages / Sign SVM messages
Password & state queries — manage the backup password lifecycle

Getting Started

EVM Guides

SVM Guides

Lifecycle

Import a Private Key

Overview

Prerequisites

EVM Import

SVM Import

Chain-Agnostic Import

Backup After Import

Best Practices

Next Steps

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​EVM Import

​SVM Import

​Chain-Agnostic Import

​Backup After Import

​Best Practices

​Next Steps

Overview

Prerequisites

EVM Import

SVM Import

Chain-Agnostic Import

Backup After Import

Best Practices

Next Steps