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In my (unpublished) [code changes](https://github.com/brakmic/bitcoin/commit/0b3ee615491edf6f542631bf6ae6f72eac406550) all raw pointers got replaced with **shared_ptr**s but kept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,
{RPCResult::Type::ELISION, "", "Equivalent to the RPC decoderawtransaction method, or the RPC getrawtransaction method when `verbose` is passed."},
                        }},
                    })
                },
                RPCExamples{
                    HelpExampleCli("gettransaction", "\"1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48d\"")
            + HelpExampleCli("gettransaction", "\"1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48d\" true")
            + HelpExampleCli("gettransaction", "\"1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48d\" false true")
            + HelpExampleRpc("gettransaction", "\"1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48d\"")
                },
        [&](const RPCHelpMan& self, const JSONRPCRequest& request) -> UniValue
{
    std::shared_ptr<CWallet> const wallet = GetWalletForJSONRPCRequest(request);
    if (!wallet) return NullUniValue;
    const CWallet* const pwallet = wallet.get();
    
    
    pwallet->BlockUntilSyncedToCurrentChain();
    LOCK(pwallet->cs_wallet);
    uint256 hash(ParseHashV(request.params[0], "txid"));
    isminefilter filter = ISMINE_SPENDABLE;
    if (ParseIncludeWatchonly(request.params[1], *pwallet)) {
        filter |= ISMINE_WATCH_ONLY;
    }
    bool verbose = request.params[2].isNull() ? false : request.params[2].get_bool();
    UniValue entry(UniValue::VOBJ);
    auto it = pwallet->mapWallet.find(hash);
    if (it == pwallet->mapWallet.end()) {
        throw JSONRPCError(RPC_INVALID_ADDRESS_OR_KEY, "Invalid or non-wallet transaction id");
    }