diff --git a/web3.js/src/publickey.ts b/web3.js/src/publickey.ts
index a92f3d06c..cc8b2f8ef 100644
--- a/web3.js/src/publickey.ts
+++ b/web3.js/src/publickey.ts
@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ export class PublicKey extends Struct {
     return bs58.encode(this.toBytes());
   }
 
+  toJSON(): string {
+    return this.toBase58();
+  }
+
   /**
    * Return the byte array representation of the public key
    */
diff --git a/web3.js/test/publickey.test.ts b/web3.js/test/publickey.test.ts
index 8bdb164fd..d6a725c4f 100644
--- a/web3.js/test/publickey.test.ts
+++ b/web3.js/test/publickey.test.ts
@@ -71,6 +71,17 @@ describe('PublicKey', function () {
     expect(key4.toBase58()).to.eq('11111111111111111111111111111111');
   });
 
+  it('toJSON', () => {
+    const key = new PublicKey('CiDwVBFgWV9E5MvXWoLgnEgn2hK7rJikbvfWavzAQz3');
+    expect(key.toJSON()).to.eq('CiDwVBFgWV9E5MvXWoLgnEgn2hK7rJikbvfWavzAQz3');
+    expect(JSON.stringify(key)).to.eq(
+      '"CiDwVBFgWV9E5MvXWoLgnEgn2hK7rJikbvfWavzAQz3"',
+    );
+    expect(JSON.stringify({key})).to.eq(
+      '{"key":"CiDwVBFgWV9E5MvXWoLgnEgn2hK7rJikbvfWavzAQz3"}',
+    );
+  });
+
   it('toBuffer', () => {
     const key = new PublicKey('CiDwVBFgWV9E5MvXWoLgnEgn2hK7rJikbvfWavzAQz3');
     expect(key.toBuffer()).to.have.length(32);