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In my (unpublished) [code changes](https://github.com/brakmic/bitcoin/commit/0b3ee615491edf6f542631bf6ae6f72eac406550) all raw pointers got replaced with **shared_ptr**s but kept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,
{"change_type", UniValueType(UniValue::VSTR)},
                {"includeWatching", UniValueType(UniValue::VBOOL)},
                {"include_watching", UniValueType(UniValue::VBOOL)},
                {"inputs", UniValueType(UniValue::VARR)},
                {"lockUnspents", UniValueType(UniValue::VBOOL)},
                {"lock_unspents", UniValueType(UniValue::VBOOL)},
                {"locktime", UniValueType(UniValue::VNUM)},
                {"fee_rate", UniValueType()}, 
                {"feeRate", UniValueType()}, 
                {"psbt", UniValueType(UniValue::VBOOL)},
                {"subtractFeeFromOutputs", UniValueType(UniValue::VARR)},
                {"subtract_fee_from_outputs", UniValueType(UniValue::VARR)},
                {"replaceable", UniValueType(UniValue::VBOOL)},
                {"conf_target", UniValueType(UniValue::VNUM)},
                {"estimate_mode", UniValueType(UniValue::VSTR)},
            },
            true, true);
        if (options.exists("add_inputs") ) {
            coinControl.m_add_inputs = options["add_inputs"].get_bool();
        }
        if (options.exists("changeAddress") || options.exists("change_address")) {
            const std::string change_address_str = (options.exists("change_address") ? options["change_address"] : options["changeAddress"]).get_str();
            CTxDestination dest = DecodeDestination(change_address_str);
            if (!IsValidDestination(dest)) {
                throw JSONRPCError(RPC_INVALID_ADDRESS_OR_KEY, "Change address must be a valid bitcoin address");
            }
            coinControl.destChange = dest;
        }
        if (options.exists("changePosition") || options.exists("change_position")) {
            change_position = (options.exists("change_position") ? options["change_position"] : options["changePosition"]).get_int();