Keys Accounts

Keys and Accounts with Nethereum

NuGet: Nethereum.Web3

Generate EC key

var ecKey = EthECKey.GenerateKey();

var privateKeyHex = ecKey.GetPrivateKey();
var publicKeyBytes = ecKey.GetPubKey();
var address = ecKey.GetPublicAddress();

// Reconstruct from private key
var reconstructed = new EthECKey(privateKeyHex);
// reconstructed.GetPublicAddress() == address

Source: SignerDocExampleTests.ShouldGenerateKeyAndDerivePublicKeyAndAddress

Deterministic key from known private key

var ecKey = new EthECKey("0xb5b1870957d373ef0eeffecc6e4812c0fd08f554b37b233526acc331bf1544f7");
var address = ecKey.GetPublicAddress();
// "0x12890D2cce102216644c59daE5baed380d84830c"

Source: SignerDocExampleTests.ShouldDeriveKnownAddressFromPrivateKey

Create Account with chain ID

var privateKey = "0xb5b1870957d373ef0eeffecc6e4812c0fd08f554b37b233526acc331bf1544f7";
var account = new Account(privateKey, Chain.MainNet);
// account.Address == "0x12890D2cce102216644c59daE5baed380d84830c"
// account.ChainId == 1

Source: AccountTypesDocExampleTests.ShouldCreateAccountWithChainId

ViewOnlyAccount for read-only access

var address = "0xde0B295669a9FD93d5F28D9Ec85E40f4cb697BAe";
var viewOnly = new ViewOnlyAccount(address);
// viewOnly.Address, viewOnly.TransactionManager available
// Cannot sign transactions

Source: AccountTypesDocExampleTests.ShouldCreateViewOnlyAccount

Encrypt to keystore (default Scrypt)

var ecKey = EthECKey.GenerateKey();
var privateKeyBytes = ecKey.GetPrivateKeyAsBytes();
var address = ecKey.GetPublicAddress();

var keyStoreService = new KeyStoreService();
var json = keyStoreService.EncryptAndGenerateDefaultKeyStoreAsJson(
    "myPassword", privateKeyBytes, address);

Source: KeyStoreDocExampleTests.ShouldUseDefaultKeyStoreServiceWithScrypt

Decrypt from keystore

var keyStoreService = new KeyStoreService();
var decryptedBytes = keyStoreService.DecryptKeyStoreFromJson("myPassword", json);

Source: KeyStoreDocExampleTests.ShouldUseDefaultKeyStoreServiceWithScrypt

Load Account from keystore

var account = Account.LoadFromKeyStore(json, "myPassword");
// account.Address available, ready to sign transactions

Source: AccountTypesDocExampleTests.ShouldLoadAccountFromKeystore

Custom Scrypt parameters

var customParams = new ScryptParams { Dklen = 32, N = 4096, R = 8, P = 1 };
var scryptService = new KeyStoreScryptService();
var json = scryptService.EncryptAndGenerateKeyStoreAsJson(
    "myPassword", privateKeyBytes, address, customParams);

var decryptedBytes = scryptService.DecryptKeyStoreFromJson("myPassword", json);

Source: KeyStoreDocExampleTests.ShouldCreateKeystoreWithCustomScryptParams

PBKDF2 keystore (legacy)

var pbkdf2Params = new Pbkdf2Params { Dklen = 32, Count = 1024, Prf = "hmac-sha256" };
var pbkdf2Service = new KeyStorePbkdf2Service();
var json = pbkdf2Service.EncryptAndGenerateKeyStoreAsJson(
    "myPassword", privateKeyBytes, address, pbkdf2Params);

var decryptedBytes = pbkdf2Service.DecryptKeyStoreFromJson("myPassword", json);

Source: KeyStoreDocExampleTests.ShouldCreatePbkdf2Keystore

Generate UTC filename

var keyStoreService = new KeyStoreService();
var filename = keyStoreService.GenerateUTCFileName(address);
// e.g. "UTC--2026-03-10T...--12890d2cce102216644c59dae5baed380d84830c"

Source: AccountTypesDocExampleTests.ShouldGenerateKeystoreFilename

Full roundtrip: generate, encrypt, decrypt, verify

var ecKey = EthECKey.GenerateKey();
var originalPrivateKey = ecKey.GetPrivateKeyAsBytes();
var originalAddress = ecKey.GetPublicAddress();

var scryptService = new KeyStoreScryptService();
var scryptParams = new ScryptParams { Dklen = 32, N = 8192, R = 8, P = 1 };
var json = scryptService.EncryptAndGenerateKeyStoreAsJson(
    "myPassword", originalPrivateKey, originalAddress, scryptParams);

var decryptedKey = scryptService.DecryptKeyStoreFromJson("myPassword", json);
var recoveredEcKey = new EthECKey(decryptedKey, true);
var recoveredAddress = recoveredEcKey.GetPublicAddress();

// originalAddress.IsTheSameAddress(recoveredAddress) == true

Source: KeyStoreDocExampleTests.ShouldRoundtripKeyThroughKeystore

Required usings

using Nethereum.Web3.Accounts;
using Nethereum.Accounts.ViewOnly;
using Nethereum.Signer;
using Nethereum.KeyStore;
using Nethereum.KeyStore.Model;
using Nethereum.Hex.HexConvertors.Extensions;