diff --git a/src/validation.cpp b/src/validation.cpp
index 32a628e665..9ea0db0ce1 100644
--- a/src/validation.cpp
+++ b/src/validation.cpp
@@ -5308,7 +5308,8 @@ bool LoadMempool(CTxMemPool& pool)
         }
         uint64_t num;
         file >> num;
-        while (num--) {
+        while (num) {
+            --num;
             CTransactionRef tx;
             int64_t nTime;
             int64_t nFeeDelta;