diff --git a/packages/taler-wallet-cli/src/index.ts b/packages/taler-wallet-cli/src/index.ts
index d7966a9ca..9652f84f3 100644
--- a/packages/taler-wallet-cli/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/taler-wallet-cli/src/index.ts
@@ -883,6 +883,16 @@ backupCli.subcommand("exportDb", "export-db").action(async (args) => {
   });
 });
 
+backupCli.subcommand("importDb", "import-db").action(async (args) => {
+  await withWallet(args, async (wallet) => {
+    const dumpRaw = await read(process.stdin);
+    const dump = JSON.parse(dumpRaw);
+    await wallet.client.call(WalletApiOperation.ImportDb, {
+      dump,
+    });
+  });
+});
+
 const depositCli = walletCli.subcommand("depositArgs", "deposit", {
   help: "Subcommands for depositing money to payto:// accounts",
 });
@@ -1600,6 +1610,3 @@ async function read(stream: NodeJS.ReadStream) {
 export function main() {
   walletCli.run();
 }
-function classifyTalerUri(uri: string) {
-  throw new Error("Function not implemented.");
-}
diff --git a/packages/taler-wallet-core/src/db.ts b/packages/taler-wallet-core/src/db.ts
index efc0333f4..e68385267 100644
--- a/packages/taler-wallet-core/src/db.ts
+++ b/packages/taler-wallet-core/src/db.ts
@@ -2890,15 +2890,9 @@ export async function exportDb(idb: IDBFactory): Promise<DbDump> {
   return dbDump;
 }
 
-export interface DatabaseDump {
-  name: string;
-  stores: { [s: string]: any };
-  version: string;
-}
-
 async function recoverFromDump(
   db: IDBDatabase,
-  dump: DatabaseDump,
+  dbDump: DbDumpDatabase,
 ): Promise<void> {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
     const tx = db.transaction(Array.from(db.objectStoreNames), "readwrite");
@@ -2907,67 +2901,33 @@ async function recoverFromDump(
     });
     for (let i = 0; i < db.objectStoreNames.length; i++) {
       const name = db.objectStoreNames[i];
-      const storeDump = dump.stores[name];
+      const storeDump = dbDump.stores[name];
       if (!storeDump) continue;
-      Object.keys(storeDump).forEach(async (key) => {
-        const value = storeDump[key];
-        if (!value) return;
-        tx.objectStore(name).put(value);
-      });
+      for (let rec of storeDump.records) {
+        tx.objectStore(name).put(rec.value, rec.key);
+      }
     }
     tx.commit();
   });
 }
 
-export async function importDb(db: IDBDatabase, object: any): Promise<void> {
-  if ("name" in object && "stores" in object && "version" in object) {
-    // looks like a database dump
-    const dump = object as DatabaseDump;
-    return recoverFromDump(db, dump);
-  }
+function checkDbDump(x: any): x is DbDump {
+  return "databases" in x;
+}
 
-  if ("databases" in object && "$types" in object) {
-    // looks like a IDBDatabase
-    const someDatabase = object.databases;
-
-    if (TALER_WALLET_META_DB_NAME in someDatabase) {
-      //looks like a taler database
-      const currentMainDbValue =
-        someDatabase[TALER_WALLET_META_DB_NAME].objectStores.metaConfig
-          .records[0].value.value;
-
-      if (currentMainDbValue !== TALER_WALLET_MAIN_DB_NAME) {
-        console.log("not the current database version");
-      }
-
-      const talerDb = someDatabase[currentMainDbValue];
-
-      const objectStoreNames = Object.keys(talerDb.objectStores);
-
-      const dump: DatabaseDump = {
-        name: talerDb.schema.databaseName,
-        version: talerDb.schema.databaseVersion,
-        stores: {},
-      };
-
-      for (let i = 0; i < objectStoreNames.length; i++) {
-        const name = objectStoreNames[i];
-        const storeDump = {} as { [s: string]: any };
-        dump.stores[name] = storeDump;
-        talerDb.objectStores[name].records.map((r: any) => {
-          const pkey = r.primaryKey;
-          const key =
-            typeof pkey === "string" || typeof pkey === "number"
-              ? pkey
-              : pkey.join(",");
-          storeDump[key] = r.value;
-        });
-      }
-
-      return recoverFromDump(db, dump);
+export async function importDb(db: IDBDatabase, dumpJson: any): Promise<void> {
+  const d = dumpJson;
+  if (checkDbDump(d)) {
+    const walletDb = d.databases[TALER_WALLET_MAIN_DB_NAME];
+    if (!walletDb) {
+      throw Error(
+        `unable to import, main wallet database (${TALER_WALLET_MAIN_DB_NAME}) not found`,
+      );
     }
+    await recoverFromDump(db, walletDb);
+  } else {
+    throw Error("unable to import, doesn't look like a valid DB dump");
   }
-  throw Error("could not import database");
 }
 
 export interface FixupDescription {