diff --git a/src/identities/providers/publickey.js b/src/identities/providers/publickey.js
index 789c6c0..e849a2c 100644
--- a/src/identities/providers/publickey.js
+++ b/src/identities/providers/publickey.js
@@ -85,5 +85,6 @@ const PublicKeyIdentityProvider = ({ keystore }) => () => {
 }
 
 PublicKeyIdentityProvider.verifyIdentity = verifyIdentity
+PublicKeyIdentityProvider.type = type
 
 export default PublicKeyIdentityProvider
diff --git a/test/fixtures/providers/bad.js b/test/fixtures/providers/bad.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2697f09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/providers/bad.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+const BadIdentityProvider = () => () => {
+
+}
+
+export default BadIdentityProvider
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/fixtures/providers/custom.js b/test/fixtures/providers/custom.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c790fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/providers/custom.js
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+const type = 'custom'
+
+const verifyIdentity = async (data) => { return true }
+
+const CustomIdentityProvider = () => () => {
+  const getId = () => { return 'custom' }
+
+  const signIdentity = (data) => { return `signature '${data}'` }
+
+  return {
+    getId,
+    signIdentity,
+    type
+  }
+}
+
+CustomIdentityProvider.verifyIdentity = verifyIdentity
+CustomIdentityProvider.type = type
+
+export default CustomIdentityProvider
diff --git a/test/fixtures/providers/fake.js b/test/fixtures/providers/fake.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ffb119d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/providers/fake.js
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+const type = 'fake'
+
+const verifyIdentity = async (data) => { return false }
+
+const FakeIdentityProvider = () => () => {
+  const getId = () => { return 'pubKey' }
+
+  const signIdentity = (data) => { return `false signature '${data}'` }
+  
+  return {
+    getId,
+    signIdentity,
+    type
+  }
+}
+
+FakeIdentityProvider.verifyIdentity = verifyIdentity
+FakeIdentityProvider.type = type
+
+export default FakeIdentityProvider
diff --git a/test/identities/identities.test.js b/test/identities/identities.test.js
index 9c756a7..23ca039 100644
--- a/test/identities/identities.test.js
+++ b/test/identities/identities.test.js
@@ -3,10 +3,11 @@ import rmrf from 'rimraf'
 import { copy } from 'fs-extra'
 import { toString as uint8ArrayToString } from 'uint8arrays/to-string'
 import KeyStore, { signMessage, verifyMessage } from '../../src/key-store.js'
-import { Identities, addIdentityProvider, getIdentityProvider, Identity } from '../../src/identities/index.js'
+import { Identities, addIdentityProvider, getIdentityProvider, Identity, PublicKeyIdentityProvider } from '../../src/identities/index.js'
 import testKeysPath from '../fixtures/test-keys-path.js'
-import { CustomIdentityProvider, FakeIdentityProvider } from '../fixtures/providers.js'
-import * as PublicKeyIdentityProvider from '../../src/identities/providers/publickey.js'
+import { default as CustomIdentityProvider } from '../fixtures/providers/custom.js'
+import { default as FakeIdentityProvider } from '../fixtures/providers/fake.js'
+import { default as BadIdentityProvider } from '../fixtures/providers/bad.js'
 
 const type = 'publickey'
 const keysPath = './testkeys'
@@ -69,7 +70,8 @@ describe('Identities', function () {
     it('Passes in an identity provider', async () => {
       const keystore = await KeyStore({ path: keysPath })
       identities = await Identities({ keystore })
-      identity = await identities.createIdentity({ id, provider: PublicKeyIdentityProvider.default({ keystore }) })
+      const provider = PublicKeyIdentityProvider({ keystore })
+      identity = await identities.createIdentity({ id, provider })
       const result = await identities.getIdentity(identity.hash)
       assert.strictEqual(result.id, identity.id)
       assert.strictEqual(result.hash, identity.hash)
@@ -230,7 +232,7 @@ describe('Identities', function () {
 
     it('false signature doesn\'t verify', async () => {
       addIdentityProvider(FakeIdentityProvider)
-      identity = await identities.createIdentity({ provider: FakeIdentityProvider.default() })
+      identity = await identities.createIdentity({ provider: FakeIdentityProvider() })
       const verified = await identities.verifyIdentity(identity)
       assert.strictEqual(verified, false)
     })
@@ -346,5 +348,17 @@ describe('Identities', function () {
 
       assert.deepStrictEqual(getIdentityProvider('custom'), CustomIdentityProvider)
     })
+    
+    it('cannot add an identity provider with missing type', () => {
+      let err
+      
+      try {
+        addIdentityProvider(BadIdentityProvider)      
+      } catch (e) {
+        err = e.toString()
+      }
+    
+      assert.strictEqual(err, 'Error: Given IdentityProvider doesn\'t have a field \'type\'')
+    })
   })
 })