diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index b73c6e87..63e72c66 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -352,6 +352,7 @@ std::string HelpMessage(HelpMessageMode mode)
 
     strUsage += "\n" + _("RPC server options:") + "\n";
     strUsage += "  -server                " + _("Accept command line and JSON-RPC commands") + "\n";
+    strUsage += "  -rest                  " + strprintf(_("Accept public REST requests (default: %u)"), 0) + "\n";
     strUsage += "  -rpcbind=<addr>        " + _("Bind to given address to listen for JSON-RPC connections. Use [host]:port notation for IPv6. This option can be specified multiple times (default: bind to all interfaces)") + "\n";
     strUsage += "  -rpcuser=<user>        " + _("Username for JSON-RPC connections") + "\n";
     strUsage += "  -rpcpassword=<pw>      " + _("Password for JSON-RPC connections") + "\n";
diff --git a/src/rpcserver.cpp b/src/rpcserver.cpp
index c10b05cb..b03016a5 100644
--- a/src/rpcserver.cpp
+++ b/src/rpcserver.cpp
@@ -955,7 +955,7 @@ void ServiceConnection(AcceptedConnection *conn)
                 break;
 
         // Process via HTTP REST API
-        } else if (strURI.substr(0, 6) == "/rest/") {
+        } else if (strURI.substr(0, 6) == "/rest/" && GetBoolArg("-rest", false)) {
             if (!HTTPReq_REST(conn, strURI, mapHeaders, fRun))
                 break;