diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 1e08220..94a1980 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -48,6 +48,13 @@ class PeerId {
     if (this._privKey) {
       return this._privKey.public
     }
+
+    const decoded = mh.decode(this.id)
+
+    if (decoded.name === 'identity') {
+      this._pubKey = cryptoKeys.unmarshalPublicKey(decoded.digest)
+      return this._pubKey
+    }
   }
 
   set pubKey (pubKey) {
diff --git a/test/peer-id.spec.js b/test/peer-id.spec.js
index a608f26..685866c 100644
--- a/test/peer-id.spec.js
+++ b/test/peer-id.spec.js
@@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ describe('PeerId', () => {
     expect(id.toB58String()).to.equal(expB58)
   })
 
+  it('can get the public key from a Secp256k1 key', async () => {
+    const original = await PeerId.create({ keyType: 'secp256k1', bits: 256 })
+    const newId = PeerId.createFromB58String(original.toB58String())
+    expect(original.pubKey.bytes).to.eql(newId.pubKey.bytes)
+  })
+
   it('isPeerId', async () => {
     const id = await PeerId.create(testOpts)
     expect(PeerId.isPeerId(id)).to.equal(true)