diff --git a/core/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/crypto/CryptoUtilities.kt b/core/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/crypto/CryptoUtilities.kt
index e45016ad5a..dcd0261f29 100644
--- a/core/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/crypto/CryptoUtilities.kt
+++ b/core/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/crypto/CryptoUtilities.kt
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ fun PrivateKey.signWithECDSA(bitsToSign: ByteArray, publicKey: PublicKey): Digit
 
 val ed25519Curve = EdDSANamedCurveTable.getByName(EdDSANamedCurveTable.CURVE_ED25519_SHA512)
 
-fun String.toPublicKey() = EdDSAPublicKey(EdDSAPublicKeySpec(Base58.decode(this), ed25519Curve))
+fun parsePublicKeyBase58(base58String: String) = EdDSAPublicKey(EdDSAPublicKeySpec(Base58.decode(base58String), ed25519Curve))
 fun PublicKey.toBase58String() = Base58.encode((this as EdDSAPublicKey).abyte)
 
 fun KeyPair.signWithECDSA(bitsToSign: ByteArray) = private.signWithECDSA(bitsToSign, public)
diff --git a/node/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/node/utilities/JsonSupport.kt b/node/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/node/utilities/JsonSupport.kt
index 128406700d..54e8224f3d 100644
--- a/node/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/node/utilities/JsonSupport.kt
+++ b/node/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/node/utilities/JsonSupport.kt
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ object JsonSupport {
     object PublicKeyDeserializer : JsonDeserializer<EdDSAPublicKey>() {
         override fun deserialize(parser: JsonParser, context: DeserializationContext): EdDSAPublicKey {
             return try {
-                parser.text.toPublicKey()
+                parsePublicKeyBase58(parser.text)
             } catch (e: Exception) {
                 throw JsonParseException(parser, "Invalid public key ${parser.text}: ${e.message}")
             }