diff --git a/src/xrpld/rpc/detail/PathRequest.cpp b/src/xrpld/rpc/detail/PathRequest.cpp
index 4fb11ab10c..28a6ad3c5c 100644
--- a/src/xrpld/rpc/detail/PathRequest.cpp
+++ b/src/xrpld/rpc/detail/PathRequest.cpp
@@ -739,7 +739,9 @@ PathRequest::doUpdate(
 {
     using namespace std::chrono;
     using namespace telemetry;
-    auto span = SpanGuard::span(
+    // Scoped so pathfind.discover (created synchronously below via findPaths)
+    // nests under it. doUpdate does not yield, so scoping is safe.
+    auto span = ScopedSpanGuard(
         TraceCategory::Rpc, pathfind_span::prefix::pathfind, pathfind_span::op::compute);
     span.setAttribute(pathfind_span::attr::fast, fast);
     span.setAttribute(pathfind_span::attr::destCurrency, to_string(saDstAmount_.asset()).c_str());
diff --git a/src/xrpld/rpc/handlers/orderbook/PathFind.cpp b/src/xrpld/rpc/handlers/orderbook/PathFind.cpp
index f04756be15..bf7fdfe264 100644
--- a/src/xrpld/rpc/handlers/orderbook/PathFind.cpp
+++ b/src/xrpld/rpc/handlers/orderbook/PathFind.cpp
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ json::Value
 doPathFind(RPC::JsonContext& context)
 {
     using namespace telemetry;
-    auto span = SpanGuard::span(
+    // Scoped so pathfind.compute/discover (created synchronously below on this
+    // thread) nest under it. doPathFind does not yield, so scoping is safe.
+    auto span = ScopedSpanGuard(
         TraceCategory::Rpc, pathfind_span::prefix::pathfind, pathfind_span::op::request);
     // Addresses are hashed before emission for privacy.
     if (auto const& src = context.params[jss::source_account]; src.isString())