diff --git a/lib/publickey.js b/lib/publickey.js
index 9f87266..fba8b05 100644
--- a/lib/publickey.js
+++ b/lib/publickey.js
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ var PublicKey = function PublicKey(data, extra) {
     info.point = data;
   } else if (PublicKey._isJSON(data)) {
     info = PublicKey._transformJSON(data);
+  } else if (typeof(data) === 'string') {
+    info = PublicKey._transformDER(new Buffer(data, 'hex'));
   } else if (PublicKey._isBuffer(data)) {
     info = PublicKey._transformDER(data);
   } else if (PublicKey._isPrivateKey(data)) {
@@ -60,7 +62,7 @@ var PublicKey = function PublicKey(data, extra) {
   } else {
     throw new TypeError('First argument is an unrecognized data format.');
   }
-
+  
   // validation
   info.point.validate();
 
@@ -289,7 +291,9 @@ PublicKey.fromPoint = function(point, compressed) {
  */
 PublicKey.fromDER = function(buf, strict) {
   var info = PublicKey._transformDER(buf, strict);
-  return new PublicKey(info.point, info.compressed);
+  return new PublicKey(info.point, {
+    compressed: info.compressed
+  });
 };
 
 /**