diff --git a/src/serialize.h b/src/serialize.h
--- a/src/serialize.h
+++ b/src/serialize.h
@@ -575,23 +575,20 @@
     return Wrapper<Formatter, T &>(t);
 }
 
-#define VARINT(obj, ...) WrapVarInt<__VA_ARGS__>(REF(obj))
+#define VARINT(obj, ...) Using<VarIntFormatter<__VA_ARGS__>>(obj)
 #define COMPACTSIZE(obj) CCompactSize(REF(obj))
 #define LIMITED_STRING(obj, n) LimitedString<n>(REF(obj))
 
-template <VarIntMode Mode, typename I> class CVarInt {
-protected:
-    I &n;
-
-public:
-    explicit CVarInt(I &nIn) : n(nIn) {}
-
-    template <typename Stream> void Serialize(Stream &s) const {
-        WriteVarInt<Stream, Mode, I>(s, n);
+/**
+ * Serialization wrapper class for integers in VarInt format.
+ */
+template <VarIntMode Mode = VarIntMode::DEFAULT> struct VarIntFormatter {
+    template <typename Stream, typename I> void Ser(Stream &s, I v) {
+        WriteVarInt<Stream, Mode, typename std::remove_cv<I>::type>(s, v);
     }
 
-    template <typename Stream> void Unserialize(Stream &s) {
-        n = ReadVarInt<Stream, Mode, I>(s);
+    template <typename Stream, typename I> void Unser(Stream &s, I &v) {
+        v = ReadVarInt<Stream, Mode, typename std::remove_cv<I>::type>(s);
     }
 };
 
@@ -669,11 +666,6 @@
     }
 };
 
-template <VarIntMode Mode = VarIntMode::DEFAULT, typename I>
-CVarInt<Mode, I> WrapVarInt(I &n) {
-    return CVarInt<Mode, I>{n};
-}
-
 template <typename I> BigEndian<I> WrapBigEndian(I &n) {
     return BigEndian<I>(n);
 }