diff --git a/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/PublicKey.java b/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/PublicKey.java
index a52f6a50b9..556ca95e66 100644
--- a/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/PublicKey.java
+++ b/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/PublicKey.java
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
  */
 public class PublicKey extends SimpleDataStructure {
     public final static int KEYSIZE_BYTES = 256;
-    private static final int CACHE_SIZE = 256;
+    private static final int CACHE_SIZE = 1024;
 
     private static final SDSCache<PublicKey> _cache = new SDSCache(PublicKey.class, KEYSIZE_BYTES, CACHE_SIZE);
 
diff --git a/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/SDSCache.java b/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/SDSCache.java
index 2108093332..b0161c6ffd 100644
--- a/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/SDSCache.java
+++ b/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/SDSCache.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package net.i2p.data;
 import java.io.EOFException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
 import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ public class SDSCache<V extends SimpleDataStructure> {
     }
 
     /** the LRU cache */
-    private final Map<Integer, V> _cache;
+    private final Map<Integer, WeakReference<V>> _cache;
     /** the byte array length for the class we are caching */
     private final int _datalen;
     /** the constructor for the class we are caching */
@@ -111,7 +112,11 @@ public class SDSCache<V extends SimpleDataStructure> {
         V rv;
         Integer key = hashCodeOf(data);
         synchronized(_cache) {
-            rv = _cache.get(key);
+            WeakReference<V> ref = _cache.get(key);
+            if (ref != null)
+                rv = ref.get();
+            else
+                rv = null;
             if (rv != null && DataHelper.eq(data, rv.getData())) {
                 // found it, we don't need the data passed in any more
                 SimpleByteCache.release(data);
@@ -127,7 +132,7 @@ public class SDSCache<V extends SimpleDataStructure> {
                 } catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
                     throw new RuntimeException("SDSCache error", e);
                 }
-                _cache.put(key, rv);
+                _cache.put(key, new WeakReference(rv));
                found = 0;
             }
         }
diff --git a/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/SigningPublicKey.java b/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/SigningPublicKey.java
index e2e0cf367e..2145e95262 100644
--- a/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/SigningPublicKey.java
+++ b/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/SigningPublicKey.java
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
  */
 public class SigningPublicKey extends SimpleDataStructure {
     public final static int KEYSIZE_BYTES = 128;
-    private static final int CACHE_SIZE = 256;
+    private static final int CACHE_SIZE = 1024;
 
     private static final SDSCache<SigningPublicKey> _cache = new SDSCache(SigningPublicKey.class, KEYSIZE_BYTES, CACHE_SIZE);