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In my (unpublished) [code changes](https://github.com/brakmic/bitcoin/commit/0b3ee615491edf6f542631bf6ae6f72eac406550) all raw pointers got replaced with **shared_ptr**s but kept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,
},
                RPCExamples{
                    HelpExampleCli("listsinceblock", "")
            + HelpExampleCli("listsinceblock", "\"000000000000000bacf66f7497b7dc45ef753ee9a7d38571037cdb1a57f663ad\" 6")
            + HelpExampleRpc("listsinceblock", "\"000000000000000bacf66f7497b7dc45ef753ee9a7d38571037cdb1a57f663ad\", 6")
                },
        [&](const RPCHelpMan& self, const JSONRPCRequest& request) -> UniValue
{
    std::shared_ptr<CWallet> const pwallet = GetWalletForJSONRPCRequest(request);
    if (!pwallet) return NullUniValue;
    const CWallet& wallet = *pwallet;
    
    
    wallet.BlockUntilSyncedToCurrentChain();
    LOCK(wallet.cs_wallet);
    Optional<int> height;    
    Optional<int> altheight; 
    int target_confirms = 1;
    isminefilter filter = ISMINE_SPENDABLE;
    uint256 blockId;
    if (!request.params[0].isNull() && !request.params[0].get_str().empty()) {
        blockId = ParseHashV(request.params[0], "blockhash");
        height = int{};
        altheight = int{};
        if (!wallet.chain().findCommonAncestor(blockId, wallet.GetLastBlockHash(),  FoundBlock().height(*height),  FoundBlock().height(*altheight))) {
            throw JSONRPCError(RPC_INVALID_ADDRESS_OR_KEY, "Block not found");
        }
    }
    if (!request.params[1].isNull()) {
        target_confirms = request.params[1].get_int();