diff --git a/trie/node.go b/trie/node.go
index bf3f024bb8a78..ff008323a407a 100644
--- a/trie/node.go
+++ b/trie/node.go
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ func decodeShort(hash, elems []byte) (node, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid value node: %v", err)
 		}
-		return &shortNode{key, append(valueNode{}, val...), flag}, nil
+		return &shortNode{key, valueNode(val), flag}, nil
 	}
 	r, _, err := decodeRef(rest)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ func decodeFull(hash, elems []byte) (*fullNode, error) {
 		return n, err
 	}
 	if len(val) > 0 {
-		n.Children[16] = append(valueNode{}, val...)
+		n.Children[16] = valueNode(val)
 	}
 	return n, nil
 }
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ func decodeRef(buf []byte) (node, []byte, error) {
 		// empty node
 		return nil, rest, nil
 	case kind == rlp.String && len(val) == 32:
-		return append(hashNode{}, val...), rest, nil
+		return hashNode(val), rest, nil
 	default:
 		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid RLP string size %d (want 0 or 32)", len(val))
 	}
diff --git a/trie/node_test.go b/trie/node_test.go
index ac1d8fbef3e6b..131fcca179f8c 100644
--- a/trie/node_test.go
+++ b/trie/node_test.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/crypto"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/rlp"
 )
 
@@ -92,3 +93,81 @@ func TestDecodeFullNode(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("decode full node err: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// goos: darwin
+// goarch: arm64
+// pkg: github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/trie
+// BenchmarkEncodeShortNode
+// BenchmarkEncodeShortNode-8   	16878850	        70.81 ns/op	      48 B/op	       1 allocs/op
+func BenchmarkEncodeShortNode(b *testing.B) {
+	node := &shortNode{
+		Key: []byte{0x1, 0x2},
+		Val: hashNode(randBytes(32)),
+	}
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		nodeToBytes(node)
+	}
+}
+
+// goos: darwin
+// goarch: arm64
+// pkg: github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/trie
+// BenchmarkDecodeShortNode
+// BenchmarkDecodeShortNode-8   	 9125304	       129.2 ns/op	     109 B/op	       3 allocs/op
+func BenchmarkDecodeShortNode(b *testing.B) {
+	node := &shortNode{
+		Key: []byte{0x1, 0x2},
+		Val: hashNode(randBytes(32)),
+	}
+	blob := nodeToBytes(node)
+	hash := crypto.Keccak256(blob)
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		mustDecodeNode(hash, blob)
+	}
+}
+
+// goos: darwin
+// goarch: arm64
+// pkg: github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/trie
+// BenchmarkEncodeFullNode
+// BenchmarkEncodeFullNode-8   	 4323273	       284.4 ns/op	     576 B/op	       1 allocs/op
+func BenchmarkEncodeFullNode(b *testing.B) {
+	node := &fullNode{}
+	for i := 0; i < 16; i++ {
+		node.Children[i] = hashNode(randBytes(32))
+	}
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		nodeToBytes(node)
+	}
+}
+
+// goos: darwin
+// goarch: arm64
+// pkg: github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/trie
+// BenchmarkDecodeFullNode
+// BenchmarkDecodeFullNode-8   	 1789374	       671.4 ns/op	     704 B/op	      17 allocs/op
+func BenchmarkDecodeFullNode(b *testing.B) {
+	node := &fullNode{}
+	for i := 0; i < 16; i++ {
+		node.Children[i] = hashNode(randBytes(32))
+	}
+	blob := nodeToBytes(node)
+	hash := crypto.Keccak256(blob)
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		mustDecodeNode(hash, blob)
+	}
+}