diff --git a/src/avalanche.h b/src/avalanche.h
--- a/src/avalanche.h
+++ b/src/avalanche.h
@@ -275,6 +275,7 @@
         int64_t score;
 
         TimePoint nextRequestTime;
+        CPubKey pubkey;
     };
 
     typedef boost::multi_index_container<
@@ -351,7 +352,8 @@
     bool registerVotes(NodeId nodeid, const AvalancheResponse &response,
                        std::vector<AvalancheBlockUpdate> &updates);
 
-    bool addPeer(NodeId nodeid, int64_t score);
+    bool addPeer(NodeId nodeid, int64_t score, CPubKey pubkey);
+    CPubKey getPubKey(NodeId nodeid) const;
 
     CPubKey getSessionPubKey() const { return sessionKey.GetPubKey(); }
 
diff --git a/src/avalanche.cpp b/src/avalanche.cpp
--- a/src/avalanche.cpp
+++ b/src/avalanche.cpp
@@ -340,12 +340,23 @@
     return true;
 }
 
-bool AvalancheProcessor::addPeer(NodeId nodeid, int64_t score) {
+bool AvalancheProcessor::addPeer(NodeId nodeid, int64_t score, CPubKey pubkey) {
     return peerSet.getWriteView()
-        ->insert({nodeid, score, std::chrono::steady_clock::now()})
+        ->insert({nodeid, score, std::chrono::steady_clock::now(),
+                  std::move(pubkey)})
         .second;
 }
 
+CPubKey AvalancheProcessor::getPubKey(NodeId nodeid) const {
+    auto r = peerSet.getReadView();
+    auto it = r->find(nodeid);
+    if (it == r->end()) {
+        return CPubKey();
+    }
+
+    return it->pubkey;
+}
+
 bool AvalancheProcessor::startEventLoop(CScheduler &scheduler) {
     LOCK(cs_running);
     if (running) {
diff --git a/src/rpc/avalanche.cpp b/src/rpc/avalanche.cpp
--- a/src/rpc/avalanche.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/avalanche.cpp
@@ -31,17 +31,19 @@
 
 static UniValue addavalanchepeer(const Config &config,
                                  const JSONRPCRequest &request) {
-    if (request.fHelp || request.params.size() != 1) {
+    if (request.fHelp || request.params.size() != 2) {
         throw std::runtime_error(
             RPCHelpMan{
                 "addavalanchepeer",
                 "\nAdd a peer to the set of peer to poll for avalanche.\n",
                 {
                     {"nodeid", RPCArg::Type::NUM, false},
+                    {"publickey", RPCArg::Type::STR_HEX, false},
                 }}
                 .ToString() +
             "\nArguments\n" +
             "1. nodeid  (number, required) Node to be added to avalanche.\n" +
+            "2. publickey  (sring, required) The public key of the node.\n" +
             "\nExamples:\n" + HelpExampleRpc("addavalanchepeer", "5"));
     }
 
@@ -49,6 +51,7 @@
         throw JSONRPCError(RPC_INTERNAL_ERROR, "Avalanche is not initialized");
     }
 
+    // Parse nodeid
     if (!request.params[0].isNum()) {
         throw JSONRPCError(
             RPC_INVALID_PARAMETER,
@@ -56,7 +59,19 @@
     }
 
     NodeId nodeid = request.params[0].get_int64();
-    g_avalanche->addPeer(nodeid, 0);
+
+    // Parse the pubkey
+    const std::string keyHex = request.params[1].get_str();
+    if ((keyHex.length() != 2 * CPubKey::COMPRESSED_PUBLIC_KEY_SIZE &&
+         keyHex.length() != 2 * CPubKey::PUBLIC_KEY_SIZE) ||
+        !IsHex(keyHex)) {
+        throw JSONRPCError(RPC_INVALID_ADDRESS_OR_KEY,
+                           strprintf("Invalid public key: %s\n", keyHex));
+    }
+
+    CPubKey pubkey{HexToPubKey(keyHex)};
+
+    g_avalanche->addPeer(nodeid, 0, pubkey);
     return {};
 }
 
diff --git a/src/test/avalanche_tests.cpp b/src/test/avalanche_tests.cpp
--- a/src/test/avalanche_tests.cpp
+++ b/src/test/avalanche_tests.cpp
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@
     std::array<CNode *, 8> nodes;
     for (CNode *&n : nodes) {
         n = ConnectNode(config, nServices, peerLogic, connman);
-        BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(n->GetId(), 0));
+        BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(n->GetId(), 0, CPubKey()));
     }
 
     return nodes;
@@ -521,7 +521,7 @@
     auto avanode =
         ConnectNode(config, NODE_AVALANCHE, *peerLogic, connman.get());
     NodeId avanodeid = avanode->GetId();
-    BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(avanodeid, 0));
+    BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(avanodeid, 0, CPubKey()));
 
     // It returns the avalanche peer.
     BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(AvalancheTest::getSuitableNodeToQuery(p), avanodeid);
@@ -675,7 +675,7 @@
     auto avanode =
         ConnectNode(config, NODE_AVALANCHE, *peerLogic, connman.get());
     NodeId avanodeid = avanode->GetId();
-    BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(avanodeid, 0));
+    BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(avanodeid, 0, CPubKey()));
 
     // Expire requests after some time.
     auto queryTimeDuration = std::chrono::milliseconds(10);
@@ -730,7 +730,7 @@
     std::array<CNode *, AVALANCHE_MAX_INFLIGHT_POLL + 1> nodes;
     for (auto &n : nodes) {
         n = ConnectNode(config, NODE_AVALANCHE, *peerLogic, connman.get());
-        BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(n->GetId(), 0));
+        BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(n->GetId(), 0, CPubKey()));
     }
 
     // Add a block to poll
@@ -891,7 +891,7 @@
     auto avanode =
         ConnectNode(config, NODE_AVALANCHE, *peerLogic, connman.get());
     NodeId nodeid = avanode->GetId();
-    BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(nodeid, 0));
+    BOOST_CHECK(p.addPeer(nodeid, 0, CPubKey()));
 
     // There is no query in flight at the moment.
     BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(AvalancheTest::getSuitableNodeToQuery(p), nodeid);
diff --git a/test/functional/abc-p2p-avalanche.py b/test/functional/abc-p2p-avalanche.py
--- a/test/functional/abc-p2p-avalanche.py
+++ b/test/functional/abc-p2p-avalanche.py
@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@
 import random
 
 from test_framework.mininode import P2PInterface, mininode_lock
-from test_framework.messages import AvalancheVote, CInv, msg_avapoll
+from test_framework.messages import (
+    AvalancheVote,
+    CInv,
+    msg_avapoll,
+)
 from test_framework.test_framework import BitcoinTestFramework
 from test_framework.util import assert_equal, wait_until
 from test_framework import schnorr
@@ -156,7 +160,12 @@
                         [AvalancheVote(BLOCK_UNKNOWN, h) for h in various_block_hashes[-3:]])
 
         self.log.info("Trigger polling from the node...")
-        node.addavalanchepeer(nodeid)
+        # duplicate the deterministic sig test from src/test/key_tests.cpp
+        privkey = bytes.fromhex(
+            "12b004fff7f4b69ef8650e767f18f11ede158148b425660723b9f9a66e61f747")
+        pubkey = schnorr.getpubkey(privkey, compressed=True)
+
+        node.addavalanchepeer(nodeid, pubkey.hex())
 
         # Sanity check
         fork_node = self.nodes[1]