diff --git a/python/ccxt/static_dependencies/ethereum/utils/hexadecimal.py b/python/ccxt/static_dependencies/ethereum/utils/hexadecimal.py
index a4423619e4a06..c196a4609839a 100644
--- a/python/ccxt/static_dependencies/ethereum/utils/hexadecimal.py
+++ b/python/ccxt/static_dependencies/ethereum/utils/hexadecimal.py
@@ -20,9 +20,13 @@
 
 
 def decode_hex(value: str) -> bytes:
-    if not is_text(value):
+    if not isinstance(value, str):
         raise TypeError("Value must be an instance of str")
-    non_prefixed = remove_0x_prefix(HexStr(value))
+    # Avoid function call overhead by inlining remove_0x_prefix logic
+    if value.startswith(("0x", "0X")):
+        non_prefixed = value[2:]
+    else:
+        non_prefixed = value
     # unhexlify will only accept bytes type someday
     ascii_hex = non_prefixed.encode("ascii")
     return binascii.unhexlify(ascii_hex)