diff --git a/src/libstore-tests/meson.build b/src/libstore-tests/meson.build
index dfb936fef..bba991388 100644
--- a/src/libstore-tests/meson.build
+++ b/src/libstore-tests/meson.build
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ if get_option('benchmarks')
   benchmark_sources = files(
     'bench-main.cc',
     'derivation-parser-bench.cc',
+    'ref-scan-bench.cc',
   )
 
   benchmark_exe = executable(
diff --git a/src/libstore-tests/ref-scan-bench.cc b/src/libstore-tests/ref-scan-bench.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8219c05bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libstore-tests/ref-scan-bench.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+#include "nix/util/references.hh"
+#include "nix/store/path.hh"
+
+#include <benchmark/benchmark.h>
+
+#include <random>
+
+using namespace nix;
+
+template<typename OIt>
+static void randomReference(std::mt19937 & urng, OIt outIter)
+{
+    auto dist = std::uniform_int_distribution<std::size_t>(0, nix32Chars.size() - 1);
+    dist(urng);
+    std::generate_n(outIter, StorePath::HashLen, [&]() { return nix32Chars[dist(urng)]; });
+}
+
+/**
+ * Generate a random byte sequence with interleaved
+ *
+ * @param charWeight relative frequency of a byte not belonging to a reference (hash part of the store path)
+ */
+static std::string
+randomBytesWithReferences(std::mt19937 & urng, std::size_t size, double charWeight, StringSet & hashes)
+{
+    std::string res;
+    res.reserve(size);
+
+    /* NOTE: std::uniform_int_distribution isn't guaranteed to be implemented for char. */
+    auto charGen = [&,
+                    charDist = std::uniform_int_distribution<int>{
+                        std::numeric_limits<char>::min(),
+                        std::numeric_limits<char>::max(),
+                    }]() mutable { res.push_back(charDist(urng)); };
+
+    auto refGen = [&]() {
+        std::string ref;
+        randomReference(urng, std::back_inserter(ref));
+        hashes.insert(ref);
+        res += ref;
+    };
+
+    std::discrete_distribution<std::size_t> genDist{1.0, StorePath::HashLen * charWeight};
+
+    while (res.size() < size) {
+        auto c = genDist(urng);
+        if (c == 0)
+            refGen();
+        else
+            charGen();
+    }
+
+    res.resize(size);
+    return res;
+}
+
+// Benchmark reference scanning
+static void BM_RefScanSinkRandom(benchmark::State & state)
+{
+    auto size = state.range();
+    auto chunkSize = 4199;
+
+    std::mt19937 urng(0);
+    StringSet hashes;
+    auto bytes = randomBytesWithReferences(urng, size, /*charWeight=*/100.0, hashes);
+    assert(hashes.size() > 0);
+
+    std::size_t processed = 0;
+
+    for (auto _ : state) {
+        state.PauseTiming();
+        RefScanSink Sink{StringSet(hashes)};
+        state.ResumeTiming();
+
+        auto data = std::string_view(bytes);
+        while (!data.empty()) {
+            auto chunk = data.substr(0, std::min<std::string_view::size_type>(chunkSize, data.size()));
+            data = data.substr(chunk.size());
+            Sink(chunk);
+            processed += chunk.size();
+        }
+
+        benchmark::DoNotOptimize(Sink.getResult());
+        state.PauseTiming();
+        assert(Sink.getResult() == hashes);
+        state.ResumeTiming();
+    }
+
+    state.SetBytesProcessed(processed);
+}
+
+BENCHMARK(BM_RefScanSinkRandom)->Arg(10'000)->Arg(100'000)->Arg(1'000'000)->Arg(5'000'000)->Arg(10'000'000);