diff --git a/Makefile.mac b/Makefile.mac
index 4f85cc5a3..61c6c1d05 100644
--- a/Makefile.mac
+++ b/Makefile.mac
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@ launcher-fakebin:
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -DZEROTIER_FAKE_VERSION_MAJOR=1 -DZEROTIER_FAKE_VERSION_MINOR=2 -DZEROTIER_FAKE_VERSION_REV
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -DZEROTIER_FAKE_VERSION_MAJOR=1 -DZEROTIER_FAKE_VERSION_MINOR=2 -DZEROTIER_FAKE_VERSION_REV
 
+makekeypair: $(OBJS)
+	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -o zerotier-makekeypair makekeypair.cpp $(OBJS) $(LIBS)
+
 clean:
 	rm -rf *.dSYM
 	rm -f $(OBJS) zerotier-*
diff --git a/makekeypair.cpp b/makekeypair.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b8736a4e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makekeypair.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/*
+ * ZeroTier One - Global Peer to Peer Ethernet
+ * Copyright (C) 2012-2013  ZeroTier Networks LLC
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ * --
+ *
+ * ZeroTier may be used and distributed under the terms of the GPLv3, which
+ * are available at: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html
+ *
+ * If you would like to embed ZeroTier into a commercial application or
+ * redistribute it in a modified binary form, please contact ZeroTier Networks
+ * LLC. Start here: http://www.zerotier.com/
+ */
+
+#include <iostream>
+#include <string>
+#include "node/EllipticCurveKeyPair.hpp"
+#include "node/EllipticCurveKey.hpp"
+#include "node/Utils.hpp"
+
+using namespace ZeroTier;
+
+int main(int argc,char **argv)
+{
+	std::cout << "[generating]" << std::endl;
+
+	EllipticCurveKeyPair kp;
+	kp.generate();
+
+	std::cout << "PUBLIC: " << kp.pub().toHex() << std::endl;
+	std::cout << "PRIVATE: " << kp.priv().toHex() << std::endl;
+
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/node/EllipticCurveKey.hpp b/node/EllipticCurveKey.hpp
index cc666104f..b32f702dc 100644
--- a/node/EllipticCurveKey.hpp
+++ b/node/EllipticCurveKey.hpp
@@ -71,10 +71,13 @@ public:
 	EllipticCurveKey(const void *data,unsigned int len)
 		throw()
 	{
-		if (len <= ZT_EC_MAX_BYTES) {
-			_bytes = len;
-			memcpy(_key,data,len);
-		} else _bytes = 0;
+		set(data,len);
+	}
+
+	EllipticCurveKey(const std::string &data)
+		throw()
+	{
+		set(data.data(),data.length());
 	}
 
 	EllipticCurveKey(const EllipticCurveKey &k)