diff --git a/zebra-chain/src/keys/transparent.rs b/zebra-chain/src/keys/transparent.rs
index 68a49b18b..e4435d79b 100644
--- a/zebra-chain/src/keys/transparent.rs
+++ b/zebra-chain/src/keys/transparent.rs
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ impl ZcashSerialize for PublicKey {
 }
 
 impl ZcashDeserialize for PublicKey {
-    fn zcash_deserialize<R: io::Read>(mut _reader: R) -> Result<Self, SerializationError> {
-        unimplemented!();
+    fn zcash_deserialize<R: io::Read>(mut reader: R) -> Result<Self, SerializationError> {
+        let mut bytes = [0; 33];
+        reader.read_exact(&mut bytes[..])?;
+        Self::from_slice(&bytes[..])
+            .map_err(|_| SerializationError::Parse("weird secp256k1 compressed public key"))
     }
 }