# Import Keys

Many traders have locked positions in various wallets - that could be due to
staking, holding specific tokens, or participating in certain smart contracts.
Without the ability to import their private keys, traders would be forced to
manage multiple wallets, complicating their asset management and paying for
multiple solutions.

By supporting private key imports, Fordefi ensures that you maintain your
positions and investments without having to unstake or move the funds. Moreover,
supporting the import of a private key from another crypto wallet allows you to
consolidate your assets into a single wallet solution or run another in
parallel.

Using Fordefi's Import Key solution, you never need to reconstruct your key or
run any scripts - you can upload the encrypted shares to Fordefi and decrypt the
shares using the passphrase on your mobile device, keeping the integrity of the
MPC protocol.

 For your own security, Fordefi
always recommends migrating from a different wallet provider by first generating
a fresh set of keys in a new Fordefi workspace and then transferring assets that
you have elsewhere, on-chain. This is preferred over moving your keys from your
old wallet solution to Fordefi, which is an action that carries a higher risk. 

## Supported private key types

Fordefi supports the import of private keys from two wallet types:

- **Fireblocks**: You can migrate the existing wallets from your Fireblocks
workspace into your Fordefi workspace by importing your Fireblocks key backup
package.
[Learn more about this procedure](/user-guide/import-keys-fireblocks).
- **Others (stand-alone)**: You can import a stand-alone private key that
corresponds to a single wallet. For example, this could be the private key of
a Metamask or Ledger wallet.
[Learn more about this procedure](/user-guide/import-keys-stand-alone).


The import procedures for the two types differ slightly. See
[Dedicated Fordefi workspace](#dedicated-fordefi-workspace).

The two types differ with respect to derivation:

- Vault creation with imported Fireblocks keys requires key derivation. This
also enables you to create multiple vaults that are all derived from the same
master key.
- In contrast, imported stand-alone keys do not support further derivation and
each key corresponds to a single vault.


## Dedicated Fordefi workspace

The import of existing keys requires a Fordefi workspace designated for key
import. To tell if the workspace is suitable, click through to the **Vaults**
screen and check that this banner appears:

![image.png](/assets/workspace-for-import.a7aab2d3e528e8723c37250ea0e7604ea67af61c9019c75db8451fba3c551c24.9c1bb791.png)

Contact Fordefi Customer Support to create such a workspace, if you require one.

The workspace has a set of native keys, like any other Fordefi workspace, but it
also allows importing existing keys. The result is that in the workspace, there
is one native set of keys and any number of imported keys.

## Before you start

To import keys successfully, you need:

- **An API User access token**
Learn how to generate the token
[here](/developers/getting-started/create-an-api-user).
- **A dedicated Fordefi workspace**
See [Dedicated Fordefi workspace](#dedicated-fordefi-workspace).
- **(For Fireblocks private keys) Fireblocks recovery package items:**
  - Your `backup.zip` file
  - Your `RSA.pem` key
  - Your `RSA.pem` password (needed if you opted to password-protect your RSA.pem key)
  - Your Fireblocks recovery passphrase
If any of these items is missing, you'll need to obtain it from Fireblocks
before starting the migration.
- **(For stand-alone private keys) Fordefi recovery tool**
[Download](https://docs.fordefi.com/user-guide/recovery) it from the Fordefi
documentation site.
Note that you need the private key you want to import in **hex format**.


## Backup

It is recommended that you [back up](/user-guide/backup-and-recover-private-keys) all
the keys in the workspace - both native and imported - as soon as you onboard
the workspace. Keys that were imported into the workspace after creating the
backup, will automatically be backed up as well. The advantage of including all
keys in the backup is that it affords you a single, integrated, managed backup
solution.

# Limitations

- While Fordefi, in general, supports ECDSA, EdDSA, ECDSA Stark and Schnorr key
types, *import* of only ECDSA and EdDSA is currently supported. If you need
support for keys of type ECDSA Stark or Schnorr, contact
[Fordefi Support](mailto:support@fordefi.com).
- Fordefi does not show past transactions for imported vaults.


hr
Learn more:

- [Import from Fireblocks](/user-guide/import-keys-fireblocks)
- [Import a stand-alone key](/user-guide/import-keys-stand-alone)
- [Create an imported vault](/user-guide/import-keys-create-imported-vault)