diff --git a/types/wgkey/key.go b/types/wgkey/key.go
index 668ceee85..fe757083a 100644
--- a/types/wgkey/key.go
+++ b/types/wgkey/key.go
@@ -106,11 +106,10 @@ func (k *Key) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
 		return errors.New("wgkey.Key: UnmarshalJSON not given a string")
 	}
 	b = b[1 : len(b)-1]
-	key, err := ParseHex(string(b))
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("wgkey.Key: UnmarshalJSON: %v", err)
+	if len(b) != 2*Size {
+		return fmt.Errorf("wgkey.Key: UnmarshalJSON input wrong size: %d", len(b))
 	}
-	copy(k[:], key[:])
+	hex.Decode(k[:], b)
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/types/wgkey/key_test.go b/types/wgkey/key_test.go
index ba3e4166f..1c4c2da59 100644
--- a/types/wgkey/key_test.go
+++ b/types/wgkey/key_test.go
@@ -156,3 +156,18 @@ func BenchmarkMarshalJSON(b *testing.B) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func BenchmarkUnmarshalJSON(b *testing.B) {
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	var k Key
+	buf, err := k.MarshalJSON()
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		err := k.UnmarshalJSON(buf)
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+}