diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 0ceb8e0ac0..3bc980c2fc 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Merged from 3.11:
  * Revert CASSANDRA-18543 (CASSANDRA-18854)
  * Fix NPE when using udfContext in UDF after a restart of a node (CASSANDRA-18739)
 Merged from 3.0:
+ * Do not set RPC_READY to false on transports shutdown in order to not fail counter updates for deployments with coordinator and storage nodes with transports turned off (CASSANDRA-18935)
  * Suppress CVE-2023-44487 (CASSANDRA-18943)
  * Fix nodetool enable/disablebinary to correctly set rpc readiness in gossip (CASSANDRA-18935)
  * Implement the logic in bin/stop-server (CASSANDRA-18838) 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java
index bf056c34a5..a8c2b1e224 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java
@@ -845,7 +845,6 @@ public class CassandraDaemon
     {
         if (nativeTransportService != null)
         {
-            StorageService.instance.setRpcReady(false);
             nativeTransportService.stop();
         }
     }
diff --git a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/test/NativeProtocolTest.java b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/test/NativeProtocolTest.java
index 38f1bd6b09..bfcee36195 100644
--- a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/test/NativeProtocolTest.java
+++ b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/test/NativeProtocolTest.java
@@ -139,9 +139,10 @@ public class NativeProtocolTest extends TestBaseImpl
             i.runOnInstance((IIsolatedExecutor.SerializableRunnable) () -> StorageService.instance.startNativeTransport());
             assertTrue(i.callOnInstance((IIsolatedExecutor.SerializableCallable<Boolean>) () -> StorageService.instance.isRpcReady(FBUtilities.getBroadcastAddressAndPort())));
 
-            // by calling e.g. nodetool disablebinary, rpc will be set to false again
+            // by calling e.g. nodetool disablebinary, rpc will NOT be set to false again
+            // please read CASSANDRA-18935 for in-depth explanation why it is so
             i.runOnInstance((IIsolatedExecutor.SerializableRunnable) () -> StorageService.instance.stopNativeTransport());
-            assertFalse(i.callOnInstance((IIsolatedExecutor.SerializableCallable<Boolean>) () -> StorageService.instance.isRpcReady(FBUtilities.getBroadcastAddressAndPort())));
+            assertTrue(i.callOnInstance((IIsolatedExecutor.SerializableCallable<Boolean>) () -> StorageService.instance.isRpcReady(FBUtilities.getBroadcastAddressAndPort())));
         }
     }
 }