diff --git a/src/rpc/avalanche.cpp b/src/rpc/avalanche.cpp
--- a/src/rpc/avalanche.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/avalanche.cpp
@@ -75,9 +75,10 @@
     }
 }
 
-static void verifyProofOrThrow(const NodeContext &node, avalanche::Proof &proof,
-                               const std::string &proofHex) {
+static avalanche::ProofRef verifyProofOrThrow(const NodeContext &node,
+                                              const std::string &proofHex) {
     bilingual_str error;
+    avalanche::Proof proof;
     if (!avalanche::Proof::FromHex(proof, proofHex, error)) {
         throw JSONRPCError(RPC_DESERIALIZATION_ERROR, error.original);
     }
@@ -91,6 +92,8 @@
                                "The proof is invalid: " + state.ToString());
         }
     }
+
+    return std::make_shared<const avalanche::Proof>(std::move(proof));
 }
 
 static RPCHelpMan addavalanchenode() {
@@ -124,9 +127,8 @@
             const NodeId nodeid = request.params[0].get_int64();
             CPubKey key = ParsePubKey(request.params[1]);
 
-            auto proof = std::make_shared<avalanche::Proof>();
             NodeContext &node = EnsureNodeContext(request.context);
-            verifyProofOrThrow(node, *proof, request.params[2].get_str());
+            auto proof = verifyProofOrThrow(node, request.params[2].get_str());
 
             const avalanche::ProofId &proofid = proof->getId();
             if (key != proof->getMaster()) {
@@ -938,13 +940,12 @@
                                    "Avalanche is not initialized");
             }
 
-            auto proof = std::make_shared<avalanche::Proof>();
             NodeContext &node = EnsureNodeContext(request.context);
 
             // Verify the proof. Note that this is redundant with the
             // verification done when adding the proof to the pool, but we get a
             // chance to give a better error message.
-            verifyProofOrThrow(node, *proof, request.params[0].get_str());
+            auto proof = verifyProofOrThrow(node, request.params[0].get_str());
 
             // Add the proof to the pool if we don't have it already. Since the
             // proof verification has already been done, a failure likely
@@ -982,8 +983,7 @@
             const JSONRPCRequest &request) -> UniValue {
             RPCTypeCheck(request.params, {UniValue::VSTR});
 
-            avalanche::Proof proof;
-            verifyProofOrThrow(EnsureNodeContext(request.context), proof,
+            verifyProofOrThrow(EnsureNodeContext(request.context),
                                request.params[0].get_str());
 
             return true;