diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 21e35435fe4e87..bd180b1a464446 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -5413,6 +5413,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "rustc_version 0.4.0",
  "seqlock",
  "serde",
+ "serde_bytes",
  "serde_derive",
  "smallvec",
  "solana-accounts-db",
diff --git a/accounts-db/Cargo.toml b/accounts-db/Cargo.toml
index 1a3abb6c04ea88..8a8eb1d8cd4324 100644
--- a/accounts-db/Cargo.toml
+++ b/accounts-db/Cargo.toml
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ ed25519-dalek = { workspace = true }
 libsecp256k1 = { workspace = true }
 memoffset = { workspace = true }
 rand_chacha = { workspace = true }
+serde_bytes = { workspace = true }
 # See order-crates-for-publishing.py for using this unusual `path = "."`
 solana-accounts-db = { path = ".", features = ["dev-context-only-utils"] }
 solana-logger = { workspace = true }
@@ -88,3 +89,7 @@ harness = false
 [[bench]]
 name = "bench_hashing"
 harness = false
+
+[[bench]]
+name = "bench_serde"
+harness = false
diff --git a/accounts-db/benches/bench_serde.rs b/accounts-db/benches/bench_serde.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..73cb7aadc98302
--- /dev/null
+++ b/accounts-db/benches/bench_serde.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+use {
+    criterion::{criterion_group, criterion_main, BatchSize, BenchmarkId, Criterion, Throughput},
+    serde::{Deserialize, Serialize},
+    solana_sdk::{account::Account, clock::Epoch, pubkey::Pubkey},
+    std::mem,
+};
+
+const KB: usize = 1024;
+const MB: usize = KB * KB;
+
+const DATA_SIZES: [usize; 4] = [
+    0,       // the smallest account
+    200,     // the size of a stake account
+    MB,      // the max size of bincode's internal buffer
+    10 * MB, // the largest account
+];
+
+/// Benchmark how long it takes to serialize an account
+fn bench_account_serialize(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    let mut group = c.benchmark_group("serde_account_serialize");
+    for data_size in DATA_SIZES {
+        let account = Account::new(0, data_size, &Pubkey::default());
+        let num_bytes = bincode::serialized_size(&account).unwrap();
+        group.throughput(Throughput::Bytes(num_bytes));
+
+        // serialize the account, treating the data as a sequence
+        let account_with_data_as_seq = AccountWithDataAsSeq {
+            data: vec![0; data_size],
+            ..Default::default()
+        };
+        group.bench_function(BenchmarkId::new("data_as_seq", data_size), |b| {
+            b.iter_batched(
+                || Vec::with_capacity(num_bytes as usize),
+                |buffer| bincode::serialize_into(buffer, &account_with_data_as_seq).unwrap(),
+                BatchSize::PerIteration,
+            );
+        });
+
+        // serialize the account, treating the data as bytes
+        let account_with_data_as_bytes = AccountWithDataAsBytes {
+            data: vec![0; data_size],
+            ..Default::default()
+        };
+        group.bench_function(BenchmarkId::new("data_as_bytes", data_size), |b| {
+            b.iter_batched(
+                || Vec::with_capacity(num_bytes as usize),
+                |buffer| bincode::serialize_into(buffer, &account_with_data_as_bytes).unwrap(),
+                BatchSize::PerIteration,
+            );
+        });
+    }
+}
+
+/// Benchmark how long it takes to deserialize an account
+fn bench_account_deserialize(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    let mut group = c.benchmark_group("serde_account_deserialize");
+    for data_size in DATA_SIZES {
+        let account = Account::new(0, data_size, &Pubkey::default());
+        let serialized_account = bincode::serialize(&account).unwrap();
+        let num_bytes = serialized_account.len() as u64;
+        group.throughput(Throughput::Bytes(num_bytes));
+
+        // deserialize the account, treating the data as a sequence
+        let serialized_account = bincode::serialize(&AccountWithDataAsSeq {
+            data: vec![0; data_size],
+            ..Default::default()
+        })
+        .unwrap();
+        group.bench_function(BenchmarkId::new("data_as_seq", data_size), |b| {
+            b.iter_batched(
+                || (),
+                |()| {
+                    bincode::deserialize::<AccountWithDataAsSeq>(serialized_account.as_slice())
+                        .unwrap()
+                },
+                BatchSize::PerIteration,
+            );
+        });
+
+        // deserialize the account, treating the data as bytes
+        let serialized_account = bincode::serialize(&AccountWithDataAsBytes {
+            data: vec![0; data_size],
+            ..Default::default()
+        })
+        .unwrap();
+        group.bench_function(BenchmarkId::new("data_as_bytes", data_size), |b| {
+            b.iter_batched(
+                || (),
+                |()| {
+                    bincode::deserialize::<AccountWithDataAsBytes>(serialized_account.as_slice())
+                        .unwrap()
+                },
+                BatchSize::PerIteration,
+            );
+        });
+    }
+}
+
+/// An account, with normal serde behavior.
+/// The account data will be serialized as a sequence.
+#[repr(C)]
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq, Eq, Clone, Default)]
+struct AccountWithDataAsSeq {
+    lamports: u64,
+    data: Vec<u8>,
+    owner: Pubkey,
+    executable: bool,
+    rent_epoch: Epoch,
+}
+
+// Ensure that our new account type stays in-sync with the real Account type.
+const _: () = assert!(mem::size_of::<AccountWithDataAsSeq>() == mem::size_of::<Account>());
+
+/// An account, with modified serde behavior.
+/// The account data will be serialized as bytes.
+#[repr(C)]
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq, Eq, Clone, Default)]
+struct AccountWithDataAsBytes {
+    lamports: u64,
+    #[serde(with = "serde_bytes")]
+    data: Vec<u8>,
+    owner: Pubkey,
+    executable: bool,
+    rent_epoch: Epoch,
+}
+
+// Ensure that our new account type stays in-sync with the real Account type.
+const _: () = assert!(mem::size_of::<AccountWithDataAsBytes>() == mem::size_of::<Account>());
+
+criterion_group!(benches, bench_account_serialize, bench_account_deserialize);
+criterion_main!(benches);