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In my (unpublished) [code changes](https://github.com/brakmic/bitcoin/commit/0b3ee615491edf6f542631bf6ae6f72eac406550) all raw pointers got replaced with **shared_ptr**s but kept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,
if (involvesWatchonly || (pwallet->IsMine(s.destination) & ISMINE_WATCH_ONLY)) {
                entry.pushKV("involvesWatchonly", true);
            }
            MaybePushAddress(entry, s.destination);
            entry.pushKV("category", "send");
            entry.pushKV("amount", ValueFromAmount(-s.amount));
            const auto* address_book_entry = pwallet->FindAddressBookEntry(s.destination);
            if (address_book_entry) {
                entry.pushKV("label", address_book_entry->GetLabel());
            }
            entry.pushKV("vout", s.vout);
            entry.pushKV("fee", ValueFromAmount(-nFee));
            if (fLong)
                WalletTxToJSON(pwallet->chain(), wtx, entry);
            entry.pushKV("abandoned", wtx.isAbandoned());
            ret.push_back(entry);
        }
    }
    
    if (listReceived.size() > 0 && wtx.GetDepthInMainChain() >= nMinDepth) {
        for (const COutputEntry& r : listReceived)
        {
            std::string label;
            const auto* address_book_entry = pwallet->FindAddressBookEntry(r.destination);
            if (address_book_entry) {
                label = address_book_entry->GetLabel();
            }
            if (filter_label && label != *filter_label) {
                continue;
            }