While working on this PR https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/18570 I ran into a bit confusing situation where in one function a **CWallet reference** was expected while two others dealt with **CWallet pointers**. My initial reaction was: `let's harmonize them by making them references`. However, not being part of the PR itself I did't change anything and completed the PR first.

Now, after having analyzed the `rpcwallet.cpp` code I came to the conclusion that:

* converting them all into references is not the solution as they're originally **shared_ptr**s
* but also: there is no (visible) reason why every RPC function should begin like this:

```cpp
std::shared_ptr<CWallet> const pwallet = GetWalletForJSONRPCRequest(request);
const CWallet* const pwallet = wallet.get();
```

This clearly defeats the purpose of shared pointers for no obvious reason. *Maybe I am missing something?*

In my (unpublished) [code changes](https://github.com/brakmic/bitcoin/commit/0b3ee615491edf6f542631bf6ae6f72eac406550) all raw pointers got replaced with **shared_ptr**s but kept their original names (that is, *pwallet*). In the end, they're pointers too, so the most of the original code remained untouched.

However, some of the helper functions couldn't be changed because external code is accessing them and I didn't want to make this task "virulent". So I introduced new ("Ref") variants that expect **shared_ptr** parameters, namely: 

```cpp
void EnsureWalletRefIsUnlocked(const std::shared_ptr<CWallet>);
bool EnsureWalletRefIsAvailable(const std::shared_ptr<CWallet>, bool avoidException);
```

I have tested the code, with python and boost-tests, and could not find any errors. 
But before opening a PR I would like to open a discussion about this. 

Is there any reason to keep on working with raw pointers when every function call actually begins with *shared_ptr*s?

Regards,
{
    int confirms = wtx.GetDepthInMainChain();
    entry.pushKV("confirmations", confirms);
    if (wtx.IsCoinBase())
        entry.pushKV("generated", true);
    if (confirms > 0)
    {
        entry.pushKV("blockhash", wtx.m_confirm.hashBlock.GetHex());
        entry.pushKV("blockheight", wtx.m_confirm.block_height);
        entry.pushKV("blockindex", wtx.m_confirm.nIndex);
        int64_t block_time;
        CHECK_NONFATAL(chain.findBlock(wtx.m_confirm.hashBlock, FoundBlock().time(block_time)));
        entry.pushKV("blocktime", block_time);
    } else {
        entry.pushKV("trusted", wtx.IsTrusted());
    }
    uint256 hash = wtx.GetHash();
    entry.pushKV("txid", hash.GetHex());
    UniValue conflicts(UniValue::VARR);
    for (const uint256& conflict : wtx.GetConflicts())
        conflicts.push_back(conflict.GetHex());
    entry.pushKV("walletconflicts", conflicts);
    entry.pushKV("time", wtx.GetTxTime());
    entry.pushKV("timereceived", (int64_t)wtx.nTimeReceived);
    
    std::string rbfStatus = "no";
    if (confirms <= 0) {
        RBFTransactionState rbfState = chain.isRBFOptIn(*wtx.tx);