In the intelligent transportation era, Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) play a pivotal role in facilitating dynamic inter-vehicle communication, crucial for intelligent driving and traffic management. Yet, the security of VANETs is hindered by the complex management of numerous certificates required for secure communication. This paper introduces a tangle-based certificate management scheme for VANETs, leveraging IOTA for efficient CRL propagation, segmented CRLs and OCSP Stapling for optimized verification, and the cuckoo filter for rapid status checks. This approach offers a comprehensive solution to the traditional revocation methods’ limitations, effectively addressing critical challenges in certificate management and revocation with notable performance improvements.