diff --git a/rpcserver.go b/rpcserver.go
index 3a481aa4..35c7f52b 100644
--- a/rpcserver.go
+++ b/rpcserver.go
@@ -3441,8 +3441,7 @@ func handleSendRawTransaction(s *rpcServer, cmd interface{}, closeChan <-chan st
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, rpcDecodeHexError(hexStr)
 	}
-	var msgTx wire.MsgTx
-	err = msgTx.Deserialize(bytes.NewReader(serializedTx))
+	tx, err := btcutil.NewTxFromBytes(serializedTx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, &btcjson.RPCError{
 			Code:    btcjson.ErrRPCDeserialization,
@@ -3451,7 +3450,6 @@ func handleSendRawTransaction(s *rpcServer, cmd interface{}, closeChan <-chan st
 	}
 
 	// Use 0 for the tag to represent local node.
-	tx := btcutil.NewTx(&msgTx)
 	acceptedTxs, err := s.cfg.TxMemPool.ProcessTransaction(tx, false, false, 0)
 	if err != nil {
 		// When the error is a rule error, it means the transaction was