diff --git a/src/acns/tor/run.rs b/src/acns/tor/run.rs
index de96e11..a308952 100644
--- a/src/acns/tor/run.rs
+++ b/src/acns/tor/run.rs
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn test_run_tor() {
-        match TorRunner::run(TorrcGenerator::new().with_socks_port(9055), "./torrc", "/usr/sbin/tor") {
+        match TorRunner::run(TorrcGenerator::new().with_socks_port(9055), "./torrc", "/usr/sbin/tor", ".") {
             Ok(runner) => {
                 sleep(Duration::new(5, 0));
                 assert!(remove_file("./torrc").is_ok());
diff --git a/src/acns/tor/validation.rs b/src/acns/tor/validation.rs
index 30280d6..2dd576b 100644
--- a/src/acns/tor/validation.rs
+++ b/src/acns/tor/validation.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+use crate::acns::ACNError;
+use crate::acns::ACNError::AuthenticationError;
+use ed25519_dalek::{PublicKey, PUBLIC_KEY_LENGTH};
+use sha3::Digest;
+
 /// check if the given hostname is a valid onion v3 address
 pub fn validate_hostname(hostname: &str) -> bool {
     match base32::decode(base32::Alphabet::RFC4648 { padding: false }, hostname) {
@@ -6,8 +11,13 @@ pub fn validate_hostname(hostname: &str) -> bool {
     }
 }
 
-use ed25519_dalek::{PublicKey, PUBLIC_KEY_LENGTH};
-use sha3::Digest;
+/// convert a tor onionv3 hostname to a public key
+pub fn hostname_to_public_key(hostname: &str) -> Result<PublicKey, ACNError> {
+    match base32::decode(base32::Alphabet::RFC4648 { padding: false }, hostname) {
+        Some(hostname_bytes) => Ok(PublicKey::from_bytes(hostname_bytes.split_at(PUBLIC_KEY_LENGTH).0).unwrap_or_default()),
+        _ => Err(AuthenticationError(String::from("error decoing hostname"))),
+    }
+}
 
 /// convert the given public key to a tor onion v3 hostname
 pub fn public_key_to_hostname(public_key: &PublicKey) -> String {
@@ -26,3 +36,18 @@ pub fn public_key_to_hostname(public_key: &PublicKey) -> String {
     buf[34] = 0x03;
     base32::encode(base32::Alphabet::RFC4648 { padding: false }, &buf).to_ascii_lowercase()
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use crate::acns::tor::validation::{hostname_to_public_key, validate_hostname};
+    use crate::primitives::identity::Identity;
+    use std::process::id;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_validation() {
+        let identity = Identity::initialize_ephemeral_identity();
+        let hostname = identity.hostname();
+        assert!(validate_hostname(hostname.as_str()));
+        assert_eq!(hostname_to_public_key(hostname.as_str()).unwrap(), identity.public_key())
+    }
+}