diff --git a/x/ibc/core/23-commitment/types/bench_test.go b/x/ibc/core/23-commitment/types/bench_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..83794fc6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x/ibc/core/23-commitment/types/bench_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+package types
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func BenchmarkMerkleProofEmpty(b *testing.B) {
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	var mk MerkleProof
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		if !mk.Empty() {
+			b.Fatal("supposed to be empty")
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/x/ibc/core/23-commitment/types/merkle.go b/x/ibc/core/23-commitment/types/merkle.go
index fe7d5c302..e90fccc34 100644
--- a/x/ibc/core/23-commitment/types/merkle.go
+++ b/x/ibc/core/23-commitment/types/merkle.go
@@ -269,9 +269,14 @@ func verifyChainedMembershipProof(root []byte, specs []*ics23.ProofSpec, proofs
 	return nil
 }
 
+// blankMerkleProof and blankProofOps will be used to compare against their zero values,
+// and are declared as globals to avoid having to unnecessarily re-allocate on every comparison.
+var blankMerkleProof = &MerkleProof{}
+var blankProofOps = &tmcrypto.ProofOps{}
+
 // Empty returns true if the root is empty
-func (proof MerkleProof) Empty() bool {
-	return proto.Equal(&proof, nil) || proto.Equal(&proof, &MerkleProof{}) || proto.Equal(&proof, &tmcrypto.ProofOps{})
+func (proof *MerkleProof) Empty() bool {
+	return proof == nil || proto.Equal(proof, blankMerkleProof) || proto.Equal(proof, blankProofOps)
 }
 
 // ValidateBasic checks if the proof is empty.