diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 251645c..498781e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 vendor/
 Gopkg.lock
+.idea/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/jwtauth.go b/jwtauth.go
index d271554..a9d1b2f 100644
--- a/jwtauth.go
+++ b/jwtauth.go
@@ -22,15 +22,15 @@ var (
 )
 
 type JwtAuth struct {
-	signKey   []byte
-	verifyKey []byte
+	signKey   interface{}
+	verifyKey interface{}
 	signer    jwt.SigningMethod
 	parser    *jwt.Parser
 }
 
 // New creates a JwtAuth authenticator instance that provides middleware handlers
 // and encoding/decoding functions for JWT signing.
-func New(alg string, signKey []byte, verifyKey []byte) *JwtAuth {
+func New(alg string, signKey interface{}, verifyKey interface{}) *JwtAuth {
 	return NewWithParser(alg, &jwt.Parser{}, signKey, verifyKey)
 }
 
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ func New(alg string, signKey []byte, verifyKey []byte) *JwtAuth {
 // We explicitly toggle `SkipClaimsValidation` in the `jwt-go` parser so that
 // we can control when the claims are validated - in our case, by the Verifier
 // http middleware handler.
-func NewWithParser(alg string, parser *jwt.Parser, signKey []byte, verifyKey []byte) *JwtAuth {
+func NewWithParser(alg string, parser *jwt.Parser, signKey interface{}, verifyKey interface{}) *JwtAuth {
 	parser.SkipClaimsValidation = true
 	return &JwtAuth{
 		signKey:   signKey,
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ func (ja *JwtAuth) Decode(tokenString string) (t *jwt.Token, err error) {
 }
 
 func (ja *JwtAuth) keyFunc(t *jwt.Token) (interface{}, error) {
-	if ja.verifyKey != nil && len(ja.verifyKey) > 0 {
+	if ja.verifyKey != nil {
 		return ja.verifyKey, nil
 	} else {
 		return ja.signKey, nil
diff --git a/jwtauth_test.go b/jwtauth_test.go
index c6a489b..094d722 100644
--- a/jwtauth_test.go
+++ b/jwtauth_test.go
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
 package jwtauth_test
 
 import (
+	"crypto/x509"
+	"encoding/pem"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
+	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -16,22 +19,83 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	TokenAuth   *jwtauth.JwtAuth
-	TokenSecret = []byte("secretpass")
+	TokenAuthHS256 *jwtauth.JwtAuth
+	TokenSecret    = []byte("secretpass")
+
+	TokenAuthRS256 *jwtauth.JwtAuth
+
+	PrivateKeyRS256String = `-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
+MIIBOwIBAAJBALxo3PCjFw4QjgOX06QCJIJBnXXNiEYwDLxxa5/7QyH6y77nCRQy
+J3x3UwF9rUD0RCsp4sNdX5kOQ9PUyHyOtCUCAwEAAQJARjFLHtuj2zmPrwcBcjja
+IS0Q3LKV8pA0LoCS+CdD+4QwCxeKFq0yEMZtMvcQOfqo9x9oAywFClMSlLRyl7ng
+gQIhAOyerGbcdQxxwjwGpLS61Mprf4n2HzjwISg20cEEH1tfAiEAy9dXmgQpDPir
+C6Q9QdLXpNgSB+o5CDqfor7TTyTCovsCIQDNCfpu795luDYN+dvD2JoIBfrwu9v2
+ZO72f/pm/YGGlQIgUdRXyW9kH13wJFNBeBwxD27iBiVj0cbe8NFUONBUBmMCIQCN
+jVK4eujt1lm/m60TlEhaWBC3p+3aPT2TqFPUigJ3RQ==
+-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
+`
+
+	PublicKeyRS256String = `-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
+MFwwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADSwAwSAJBALxo3PCjFw4QjgOX06QCJIJBnXXNiEYw
+DLxxa5/7QyH6y77nCRQyJ3x3UwF9rUD0RCsp4sNdX5kOQ9PUyHyOtCUCAwEAAQ==
+-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
+`
 )
 
 func init() {
-	TokenAuth = jwtauth.New("HS256", TokenSecret, nil)
+	TokenAuthHS256 = jwtauth.New("HS256", TokenSecret, nil)
 }
 
 //
 // Tests
 //
 
+func TestSimpleRSA(t *testing.T) {
+	privateKeyBlock, _ := pem.Decode([]byte(PrivateKeyRS256String))
+
+	privateKey, err := x509.ParsePKCS1PrivateKey(privateKeyBlock.Bytes)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf(err.Error())
+	}
+
+	publicKeyBlock, _ := pem.Decode([]byte(PublicKeyRS256String))
+
+	publicKey, err := x509.ParsePKIXPublicKey(publicKeyBlock.Bytes)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf(err.Error())
+	}
+
+	TokenAuthRS256 = jwtauth.New("RS256", privateKey, publicKey)
+
+	claims := jwtauth.Claims{
+		"key":  "val",
+		"key2": "val2",
+		"key3": "val3",
+	}
+
+	_, tokenString, err := TokenAuthRS256.Encode(claims)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to encode claims %s\n", err.Error())
+	}
+
+	token, err := TokenAuthRS256.Decode(tokenString)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to decode token string %s\n", err.Error())
+	}
+
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(claims, jwtauth.Claims(token.Claims.(jwt.MapClaims))) {
+		t.Fatalf("The decoded claims don't match the original ones\n")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestSimple(t *testing.T) {
 	r := chi.NewRouter()
 
-	r.Use(jwtauth.Verifier(TokenAuth), jwtauth.Authenticator)
+	r.Use(jwtauth.Verifier(TokenAuthHS256), jwtauth.Authenticator)
 
 	r.Get("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		w.Write([]byte("welcome"))
@@ -76,7 +140,7 @@ func TestMore(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Protected routes
 	r.Group(func(r chi.Router) {
-		r.Use(jwtauth.Verifier(TokenAuth))
+		r.Use(jwtauth.Verifier(TokenAuthHS256))
 
 		authenticator := func(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
 			return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {