diff --git a/src/net.cpp b/src/net.cpp
index ad4af4abb28..6c099306ebd 100644
--- a/src/net.cpp
+++ b/src/net.cpp
@@ -507,9 +507,9 @@ void CConnman::AddWhitelistPermissionFlags(NetPermissionFlags& flags, const CNet
     }
 }
 
-std::string CNode::ConnectionTypeAsString() const
+std::string ConnectionTypeAsString(ConnectionType conn_type)
 {
-    switch (m_conn_type) {
+    switch (conn_type) {
     case ConnectionType::INBOUND:
         return "inbound";
     case ConnectionType::MANUAL:
@@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ void CNode::copyStats(CNodeStats &stats, const std::vector<bool> &m_asmap)
     CService addrLocalUnlocked = GetAddrLocal();
     stats.addrLocal = addrLocalUnlocked.IsValid() ? addrLocalUnlocked.ToString() : "";
 
-    stats.m_conn_type_string = ConnectionTypeAsString();
+    X(m_conn_type);
 }
 #undef X
 
diff --git a/src/net.h b/src/net.h
index acc1da49a5b..83fdb7f3e55 100644
--- a/src/net.h
+++ b/src/net.h
@@ -180,6 +180,8 @@ enum class ConnectionType {
     ADDR_FETCH,
 };
 
+/** Convert ConnectionType enum to a string value */
+std::string ConnectionTypeAsString(ConnectionType conn_type);
 void Discover();
 void StartMapPort();
 void InterruptMapPort();
@@ -273,11 +275,10 @@ public:
     // Network the peer connected through
     Network m_network;
     uint32_t m_mapped_as;
-    std::string m_conn_type_string;
+    ConnectionType m_conn_type;
 };
 
 
-
 /** Transport protocol agnostic message container.
  * Ideally it should only contain receive time, payload,
  * command and size.
@@ -765,7 +766,7 @@ public:
     //! Sets the addrName only if it was not previously set
     void MaybeSetAddrName(const std::string& addrNameIn);
 
-    std::string ConnectionTypeAsString() const;
+    std::string ConnectionTypeAsString() const { return ::ConnectionTypeAsString(m_conn_type); }
 
     /** Whether this peer is an inbound onion, e.g. connected via our Tor onion service. */
     bool IsInboundOnion() const { return m_inbound_onion; }
diff --git a/src/rpc/net.cpp b/src/rpc/net.cpp
index 89ddfb35cb0..ddbd7e91428 100644
--- a/src/rpc/net.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/net.cpp
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ static RPCHelpMan getpeerinfo()
                 recvPerMsgCmd.pushKV(i.first, i.second);
         }
         obj.pushKV("bytesrecv_per_msg", recvPerMsgCmd);
-        obj.pushKV("connection_type", stats.m_conn_type_string);
+        obj.pushKV("connection_type", ConnectionTypeAsString(stats.m_conn_type));
 
         ret.push_back(obj);
     }