diff --git a/src/net.h b/src/net.h
--- a/src/net.h
+++ b/src/net.h
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@
 class CNode;
 class CScheduler;
 
+/** Default for -whitelistrelay. */
+static const bool DEFAULT_WHITELISTRELAY = true;
+/** Default for -whitelistforcerelay. */
+static const bool DEFAULT_WHITELISTFORCERELAY = false;
+
 /**
  * Time between pings automatically sent out for latency probing and keepalive
  * (in seconds).
diff --git a/src/net.cpp b/src/net.cpp
--- a/src/net.cpp
+++ b/src/net.cpp
@@ -992,10 +992,11 @@
     if (NetPermissions::HasFlag(permissionFlags,
                                 NetPermissionFlags::PF_ISIMPLICIT)) {
         NetPermissions::ClearFlag(permissionFlags, PF_ISIMPLICIT);
-        if (gArgs.GetBoolArg("-whitelistforcerelay", false)) {
+        if (gArgs.GetBoolArg("-whitelistforcerelay",
+                             DEFAULT_WHITELISTFORCERELAY)) {
             NetPermissions::AddFlag(permissionFlags, PF_FORCERELAY);
         }
-        if (gArgs.GetBoolArg("-whitelistrelay", false)) {
+        if (gArgs.GetBoolArg("-whitelistrelay", DEFAULT_WHITELISTRELAY)) {
             NetPermissions::AddFlag(permissionFlags, PF_RELAY);
         }
         NetPermissions::AddFlag(permissionFlags, PF_MEMPOOL);
diff --git a/src/validation.h b/src/validation.h
--- a/src/validation.h
+++ b/src/validation.h
@@ -61,10 +61,6 @@
 #define MIN_TRANSACTION_SIZE                                                   \
     (::GetSerializeSize(CTransaction(), PROTOCOL_VERSION))
 
-/** Default for -whitelistrelay. */
-static const bool DEFAULT_WHITELISTRELAY = true;
-/** Default for -whitelistforcerelay. */
-static const bool DEFAULT_WHITELISTFORCERELAY = true;
 /** Default for -minrelaytxfee, minimum relay fee for transactions */
 static const Amount DEFAULT_MIN_RELAY_TX_FEE_PER_KB(1000 * SATOSHI);
 /** Default for -excessutxocharge for transactions transactions */
diff --git a/test/functional/p2p_permissions.py b/test/functional/p2p_permissions.py
--- a/test/functional/p2p_permissions.py
+++ b/test/functional/p2p_permissions.py
@@ -23,12 +23,19 @@
         self.extra_args = [[], []]
 
     def run_test(self):
+
         self.checkpermission(
-            # relay permission added
-            ["-whitelist=127.0.0.1", "-whitelistrelay"],
+            # default permissions (no specific permissions)
+            ["-whitelist=127.0.0.1"],
             ["relay", "noban", "mempool"],
             True)
 
+        self.checkpermission(
+            # relay permission removed (no specific permissions)
+            ["-whitelist=127.0.0.1", "-whitelistrelay=0"],
+            ["noban", "mempool"],
+            True)
+
         self.checkpermission(
             # forcerelay and relay permission added
             # Legacy parameter interaction which set whitelistrelay to true