diff --git a/account/priv_account.go b/account/priv_account.go
index 4fdfcf1b572..ccd702b1f32 100644
--- a/account/priv_account.go
+++ b/account/priv_account.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package account
 
 import (
 	"github.com/tendermint/ed25519"
+	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/binary"
 	. "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/common"
 )
 
@@ -25,6 +26,21 @@ func GenPrivAccount() *PrivAccount {
 	}
 }
 
+// Generates a new account with private key from SHA256 hash of a secret
+func GenPrivAccountFromSecret(secret []byte) *PrivAccount {
+	privKey32 := binary.BinarySha256(secret)
+	privKeyBytes := new([64]byte)
+	copy(privKeyBytes[:32], privKey32)
+	pubKeyBytes := ed25519.MakePublicKey(privKeyBytes)
+	pubKey := PubKeyEd25519(pubKeyBytes[:])
+	privKey := PrivKeyEd25519(privKeyBytes[:])
+	return &PrivAccount{
+		Address: pubKey.Address(),
+		PubKey:  pubKey,
+		PrivKey: privKey,
+	}
+}
+
 func GenPrivAccountFromKey(privKeyBytes [64]byte) *PrivAccount {
 	pubKeyBytes := ed25519.MakePublicKey(&privKeyBytes)
 	pubKey := PubKeyEd25519(pubKeyBytes[:])
diff --git a/state/execution.go b/state/execution.go
index dabe8016091..dcccbaf81f5 100644
--- a/state/execution.go
+++ b/state/execution.go
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ func ExecTx(blockCache *BlockCache, tx_ types.Tx, runCall bool, evc events.Firea
 			txCache.UpdateAccount(caller) // because we adjusted by input above, and bumped nonce maybe.
 			txCache.UpdateAccount(callee) // because we adjusted by input above.
 			vmach := vm.NewVM(txCache, params, caller.Address, account.HashSignBytes(tx))
-			vmach.SetFireable(_s.evc)
+			vmach.SetFireable(evc)
 			// NOTE: Call() transfers the value from caller to callee iff call succeeds.
 
 			ret, err := vmach.Call(caller, callee, code, tx.Data, value, &gas)