diff --git a/web3.js/src/publickey.js b/web3.js/src/publickey.js
index 4e65dcc040..a35fd31a1f 100644
--- a/web3.js/src/publickey.js
+++ b/web3.js/src/publickey.js
@@ -12,25 +12,17 @@ export class PublicKey {
   /**
    * Create a new PublicKey object
    */
-  constructor(number: number | string | Buffer | Array<number>) {
-
-    for (;;) {
-      if (typeof number === 'string') {
-        // base 58 encoded?
-        if (/^[1-9A-HJ-NP-Za-km-z]{43,44}$/.test(number)) {
-          this._bn = new BN(bs58.decode(number));
-          break;
-        }
-
-        // hexadecimal number
-        if (number.startsWith('0x')) {
-          this._bn = new BN(number.substring(2), 16);
-          break;
-        }
+  constructor(value: number | string | Buffer | Array<number>) {
+    if (typeof value === 'string') {
+      // hexadecimal number
+      if (value.startsWith('0x')) {
+        this._bn = new BN(value.substring(2), 16);
+      } else {
+        // assume base 58 encoding by default
+        this._bn = new BN(bs58.decode(value));
       }
-
-      this._bn = new BN(number);
-      break;
+    } else {
+      this._bn = new BN(value);
     }
 
     if (this._bn.byteLength() > 32) {
diff --git a/web3.js/test/publickey.test.js b/web3.js/test/publickey.test.js
index 474fada700..4cdeb95b86 100644
--- a/web3.js/test/publickey.test.js
+++ b/web3.js/test/publickey.test.js
@@ -22,11 +22,9 @@ test('equals', () => {
     3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
   ]);
   const hexKey = new PublicKey('0x300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000');
-  const decimalKey = new PublicKey('1356938545749799165119972480570561420155507632800475359837393562592731987968');
   const base56Key = new PublicKey('CiDwVBFgWV9E5MvXWoLgnEgn2hK7rJikbvfWavzAQz3');
 
   expect(arrayKey.equals(hexKey)).toBe(true);
-  expect(arrayKey.equals(decimalKey)).toBe(true);
   expect(arrayKey.equals(base56Key)).toBe(true);
 
 });
@@ -42,9 +40,18 @@ test('toBase58', () => {
   expect(key.toBase58()).toBe('CiDwVBFgWV9E5MvXWoLgnEgn2hK7rJikbvfWavzAQz3');
   expect(key.toString()).toBe('CiDwVBFgWV9E5MvXWoLgnEgn2hK7rJikbvfWavzAQz3');
 
-  const key2 = new PublicKey('123456789');
+  const key2 = new PublicKey('1111111111111111111111111111BukQL');
   expect(key2.toBase58()).toBe('1111111111111111111111111111BukQL');
   expect(key2.toString()).toBe('1111111111111111111111111111BukQL');
+
+  const key3 = new PublicKey('11111111111111111111111111111111');
+  expect(key3.toBase58()).toBe('11111111111111111111111111111111');
+
+  const key4 = new PublicKey([
+    0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+  ]);
+  expect(key4.toBase58()).toBe('11111111111111111111111111111111');
+
 });
 
 test('toBuffer', () => {