diff --git a/src/bench/mempool_eviction.cpp b/src/bench/mempool_eviction.cpp
index e05a5e3d1..55507146c 100644
--- a/src/bench/mempool_eviction.cpp
+++ b/src/bench/mempool_eviction.cpp
@@ -9,16 +9,16 @@
 #include <list>
 #include <vector>
 
-static void AddTx(const CMutableTransaction& tx, const CAmount& nFee, CTxMemPool& pool)
+static void AddTx(const CTransactionRef& tx, const CAmount& nFee, CTxMemPool& pool)
 {
     int64_t nTime = 0;
     unsigned int nHeight = 1;
     bool spendsCoinbase = false;
     unsigned int sigOpCost = 4;
     LockPoints lp;
-    pool.addUnchecked(tx.GetHash(), CTxMemPoolEntry(
-                                        MakeTransactionRef(tx), nFee, nTime, nHeight,
-                                        spendsCoinbase, sigOpCost, lp));
+    pool.addUnchecked(tx->GetHash(), CTxMemPoolEntry(
+                                         tx, nFee, nTime, nHeight,
+                                         spendsCoinbase, sigOpCost, lp));
 }
 
 // Right now this is only testing eviction performance in an extremely small
@@ -97,15 +97,23 @@ static void MempoolEviction(benchmark::State& state)
     tx7.vout[1].nValue = 10 * COIN;
 
     CTxMemPool pool;
+    // Create transaction references outside the "hot loop"
+    const CTransactionRef tx1_r{MakeTransactionRef(tx1)};
+    const CTransactionRef tx2_r{MakeTransactionRef(tx2)};
+    const CTransactionRef tx3_r{MakeTransactionRef(tx3)};
+    const CTransactionRef tx4_r{MakeTransactionRef(tx4)};
+    const CTransactionRef tx5_r{MakeTransactionRef(tx5)};
+    const CTransactionRef tx6_r{MakeTransactionRef(tx6)};
+    const CTransactionRef tx7_r{MakeTransactionRef(tx7)};
 
     while (state.KeepRunning()) {
-        AddTx(tx1, 10000LL, pool);
-        AddTx(tx2, 5000LL, pool);
-        AddTx(tx3, 20000LL, pool);
-        AddTx(tx4, 7000LL, pool);
-        AddTx(tx5, 1000LL, pool);
-        AddTx(tx6, 1100LL, pool);
-        AddTx(tx7, 9000LL, pool);
+        AddTx(tx1_r, 10000LL, pool);
+        AddTx(tx2_r, 5000LL, pool);
+        AddTx(tx3_r, 20000LL, pool);
+        AddTx(tx4_r, 7000LL, pool);
+        AddTx(tx5_r, 1000LL, pool);
+        AddTx(tx6_r, 1100LL, pool);
+        AddTx(tx7_r, 9000LL, pool);
         pool.TrimToSize(pool.DynamicMemoryUsage() * 3 / 4);
         pool.TrimToSize(GetVirtualTransactionSize(tx1));
     }