diff --git a/src/ripple/app/tx/impl/URIToken.cpp b/src/ripple/app/tx/impl/URIToken.cpp
index 391af6be2..c82849214 100644
--- a/src/ripple/app/tx/impl/URIToken.cpp
+++ b/src/ripple/app/tx/impl/URIToken.cpp
@@ -103,57 +103,7 @@ URIToken::preflight(PreflightContext const& ctx)
             return temMALFORMED;
         }
 
-        if (!([](std::vector<uint8_t> const& u) -> bool {
-                // this code is from
-                // https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/utf8_check.c
-                uint8_t const* s = (uint8_t const*)u.data();
-                uint8_t const* end = s + u.size();
-                while (s < end)
-                {
-                    if (*s < 0x80)
-                        /* 0xxxxxxx */
-                        s++;
-                    else if ((s[0] & 0xe0) == 0xc0)
-                    {
-                        /* 110XXXXx 10xxxxxx */
-                        if ((s[1] & 0xc0) != 0x80 ||
-                            (s[0] & 0xfe) == 0xc0) /* overlong? */
-                            return false;
-                        else
-                            s += 2;
-                    }
-                    else if ((s[0] & 0xf0) == 0xe0)
-                    {
-                        /* 1110XXXX 10Xxxxxx 10xxxxxx */
-                        if ((s[1] & 0xc0) != 0x80 || (s[2] & 0xc0) != 0x80 ||
-                            (s[0] == 0xe0 &&
-                             (s[1] & 0xe0) == 0x80) || /* overlong? */
-                            (s[0] == 0xed &&
-                             (s[1] & 0xe0) == 0xa0) || /* surrogate? */
-                            (s[0] == 0xef && s[1] == 0xbf &&
-                             (s[2] & 0xfe) == 0xbe)) /* U+FFFE or U+FFFF? */
-                            return false;
-                        else
-                            s += 3;
-                    }
-                    else if ((s[0] & 0xf8) == 0xf0)
-                    {
-                        /* 11110XXX 10XXxxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx */
-                        if ((s[1] & 0xc0) != 0x80 || (s[2] & 0xc0) != 0x80 ||
-                            (s[3] & 0xc0) != 0x80 ||
-                            (s[0] == 0xf0 &&
-                             (s[1] & 0xf0) == 0x80) || /* overlong? */
-                            (s[0] == 0xf4 && s[1] > 0x8f) ||
-                            s[0] > 0xf4) /* > U+10FFFF? */
-                            return false;
-                        else
-                            s += 4;
-                    }
-                    else
-                        return false;
-                }
-                return true;
-            })(uri))
+        if (!validateUTF8(uri))
         {
             JLOG(ctx.j.warn()) << "Malformed transaction. URI must be a "
                                   "valid utf-8 string.";
diff --git a/src/ripple/app/tx/impl/URIToken.h b/src/ripple/app/tx/impl/URIToken.h
index 9b9742712..ebea4c187 100644
--- a/src/ripple/app/tx/impl/URIToken.h
+++ b/src/ripple/app/tx/impl/URIToken.h
@@ -30,6 +30,56 @@ namespace ripple {
 class URIToken : public Transactor
 {
 public:
+    bool inline static validateUTF8(std::vector<uint8_t> const& u)
+    {
+        // this code is from
+        // https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/utf8_check.c
+        uint8_t const* s = (uint8_t const*)u.data();
+        uint8_t const* end = s + u.size();
+        while (s < end)
+        {
+            if (*s < 0x80)
+                /* 0xxxxxxx */
+                s++;
+            else if ((s[0] & 0xe0) == 0xc0)
+            {
+                /* 110XXXXx 10xxxxxx */
+                if ((s[1] & 0xc0) != 0x80 ||
+                    (s[0] & 0xfe) == 0xc0) /* overlong? */
+                    return false;
+                else
+                    s += 2;
+            }
+            else if ((s[0] & 0xf0) == 0xe0)
+            {
+                /* 1110XXXX 10Xxxxxx 10xxxxxx */
+                if ((s[1] & 0xc0) != 0x80 || (s[2] & 0xc0) != 0x80 ||
+                    (s[0] == 0xe0 && (s[1] & 0xe0) == 0x80) || /* overlong? */
+                    (s[0] == 0xed && (s[1] & 0xe0) == 0xa0) || /* surrogate? */
+                    (s[0] == 0xef && s[1] == 0xbf &&
+                     (s[2] & 0xfe) == 0xbe)) /* U+FFFE or U+FFFF? */
+                    return false;
+                else
+                    s += 3;
+            }
+            else if ((s[0] & 0xf8) == 0xf0)
+            {
+                /* 11110XXX 10XXxxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx */
+                if ((s[1] & 0xc0) != 0x80 || (s[2] & 0xc0) != 0x80 ||
+                    (s[3] & 0xc0) != 0x80 ||
+                    (s[0] == 0xf0 && (s[1] & 0xf0) == 0x80) || /* overlong? */
+                    (s[0] == 0xf4 && s[1] > 0x8f) ||
+                    s[0] > 0xf4) /* > U+10FFFF? */
+                    return false;
+                else
+                    s += 4;
+            }
+            else
+                return false;
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
+
     static constexpr ConsequencesFactoryType ConsequencesFactory{Normal};
 
     explicit URIToken(ApplyContext& ctx) : Transactor(ctx)