diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -1604,8 +1604,6 @@
         gArgs.GetBoolArg("-permitbaremultisig", DEFAULT_PERMIT_BAREMULTISIG);
     fAcceptDatacarrier =
         gArgs.GetBoolArg("-datacarrier", DEFAULT_ACCEPT_DATACARRIER);
-    nMaxDatacarrierBytes =
-        gArgs.GetArg("-datacarriersize", nMaxDatacarrierBytes);
 
     // Option to startup with mocktime set (used for regression testing):
     SetMockTime(gArgs.GetArg("-mocktime", 0)); // SetMockTime(0) is a no-op
diff --git a/src/policy/policy.cpp b/src/policy/policy.cpp
--- a/src/policy/policy.cpp
+++ b/src/policy/policy.cpp
@@ -37,10 +37,17 @@
         // Support up to x-of-3 multisig txns as standard
         if (n < 1 || n > 3) return false;
         if (m < 1 || m > n) return false;
-    } else if (whichType == TX_NULL_DATA &&
-               (!fAcceptDatacarrier ||
-                scriptPubKey.size() > nMaxDatacarrierBytes))
-        return false;
+    } else if (whichType == TX_NULL_DATA) {
+        if (!fAcceptDatacarrier) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        unsigned nMaxDatacarrierBytes =
+            gArgs.GetArg("-datacarriersize", MAX_OP_RETURN_RELAY);
+        if (scriptPubKey.size() > nMaxDatacarrierBytes) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
 
     return whichType != TX_NONSTANDARD;
 }
diff --git a/src/script/standard.h b/src/script/standard.h
--- a/src/script/standard.h
+++ b/src/script/standard.h
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 //!< bytes (+1 for OP_RETURN, +2 for the pushdata opcodes)
 static const unsigned int MAX_OP_RETURN_RELAY = 83;
 extern bool fAcceptDatacarrier;
-extern unsigned nMaxDatacarrierBytes;
 
 /**
  * Mandatory script verification flags that all new blocks must comply with for
diff --git a/src/script/standard.cpp b/src/script/standard.cpp
--- a/src/script/standard.cpp
+++ b/src/script/standard.cpp
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 typedef std::vector<uint8_t> valtype;
 
 bool fAcceptDatacarrier = DEFAULT_ACCEPT_DATACARRIER;
-unsigned nMaxDatacarrierBytes = MAX_OP_RETURN_RELAY;
 
 CScriptID::CScriptID(const CScript &in)
     : uint160(Hash160(in.begin(), in.end())) {}