diff --git a/src/core/components/pre-start.js b/src/core/components/pre-start.js
index e69f20845d..2ef29f6ce7 100644
--- a/src/core/components/pre-start.js
+++ b/src/core/components/pre-start.js
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ const waterfall = require('async/waterfall')
 const Keychain = require('libp2p-keychain')
 const mergeOptions = require('merge-options')
 const NoKeychain = require('./no-keychain')
+const KeyTransformDatastore = require('datastore-core').KeytransformDatastore
+const keychainTransformer = require('../../utils/keychain-encoder')
+
 /*
  * Load stuff from Repo into memory
  */
@@ -49,7 +52,9 @@ module.exports = function preStart (self) {
           // most likely an init or upgrade has happened
         } else if (pass) {
           const keychainOptions = Object.assign({ passPhrase: pass }, config.Keychain)
-          self._keychain = new Keychain(self._repo.keys, keychainOptions)
+          const keychainTransformedDatastore = new KeyTransformDatastore(self._repo.keys, keychainTransformer)
+          self._keychain = new Keychain(keychainTransformedDatastore, keychainOptions)
+          // self._keychain = new Keychain(self._repo.keys, keychainOptions)
           self.log('keychain constructed')
         } else {
           self._keychain = new NoKeychain()
diff --git a/src/utils/keychain-encoder.js b/src/utils/keychain-encoder.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8b13d6a007
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/keychain-encoder.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+'use strict'
+const base32 = require('base32.js')
+const Key = require('interface-datastore').Key
+const KEY_PREFIX = 'key_'
+
+module.exports = {
+  /**
+   * Encode baseNamespace of a Key to base32
+   *
+   * @param {Key} key
+   * @returns {Key}
+   *
+   * @example convert(new Key('/info/self.data'))
+   * // => Key('/info/key_onswyzq.data')
+   */
+  convert (key) {
+    const encoder = new base32.Encoder({ type: 'rfc4648' })
+    const baseNameBuff = Buffer.from(key.baseNamespace())
+    const encodedBaseNamespace = KEY_PREFIX + encoder.finalize(baseNameBuff).toLowerCase()
+    const namespaces = key.namespaces()
+    namespaces[namespaces.length - 1] = encodedBaseNamespace // Replace the baseNamespace with encoded one
+    return Key.withNamespaces(namespaces)
+  },
+
+  /**
+   * Decode baseNamespace of a Key from base32
+   *
+   * @param {Key} key
+   * @returns {Key}
+   *
+   * @example invert(new Key('/info/key_onswyzq.data'))
+   * // => Key('/info/self.data')
+   */
+  invert (key) {
+    const baseNamespace = key.baseNamespace()
+    if (!baseNamespace.startsWith(KEY_PREFIX)) {
+      throw Error('Unknown format of key\'s name!')
+    }
+
+    const decoder = new base32.Decoder({ type: 'rfc4648' })
+    const decodedBaseNamespace = decoder.finalize(baseNamespace.replace(KEY_PREFIX, '').toUpperCase())
+    const namespaces = key.namespaces()
+    namespaces[namespaces.length - 1] = Buffer.from(decodedBaseNamespace).toString() // Replace the baseNamespace with encoded one
+
+    return Key.withNamespaces(namespaces)
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/utils-test/keychain-encode.spec.js b/test/utils-test/keychain-encode.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a6ddb597e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/utils-test/keychain-encode.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/* eslint-env mocha */
+'use strict'
+
+const encoder = require('../../src/utils/keychain-encoder')
+const Key = require('interface-datastore').Key
+
+const expect = require('chai').expect
+
+function test (input, expected, fnc) {
+  input = new Key(input)
+  const output = fnc(input)
+
+  expect(output.toString()).to.equal(expected)
+}
+
+describe('keychain-encode', () => {
+  it('encode keys', () => {
+    test('/self', '/key_onswyzq', encoder.convert)
+    test('bbbba', '/key_mjrgeytb', encoder.convert)
+    test('/some/path/self', '/some/path/key_onswyzq', encoder.convert)
+  })
+  it('decode keys', () => {
+    test('/key_onswyzq', '/self', encoder.invert)
+    test('key_mjrgeytb', '/bbbba', encoder.invert)
+    test('/some/path/key_onswyzq', '/some/path/self', encoder.invert)
+  })
+  it('decode expects specific format', () => {
+    expect(() => { encoder.invert(new Key('/some/path/onswyzq')) }).to.throw('Unknown')
+  })
+})