diff --git a/src/Instrumentation/Curl/src/CurlInstrumentation.php b/src/Instrumentation/Curl/src/CurlInstrumentation.php
index 7e04d120e..b6d4d2647 100644
--- a/src/Instrumentation/Curl/src/CurlInstrumentation.php
+++ b/src/Instrumentation/Curl/src/CurlInstrumentation.php
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 use OpenTelemetry\SemConv\TraceAttributes;
 use OpenTelemetry\SemConv\Version;
 use WeakMap;
-use WeakReference;
 
 class CurlInstrumentation
 {
@@ -35,7 +34,7 @@ public static function register(): void
          *                         'handles'=>
          *                              WeakMap[CurlHandle] => {
          *                                  'finished' => bool,
-         *                                  'span' => WeakReference<SpanInterface>
+         *                                  'span' => SpanInterface
          *                              }
          *                      )
          */
@@ -327,7 +326,7 @@ public static function register(): void
                             }
                             $curlSetOptInstrumentationSuppressed = false;
 
-                            $metadata['span'] = WeakReference::create($span);
+                            $metadata['span'] = $span;
                         }
                         $mHandle['started'] = true;
                     }
@@ -339,7 +338,7 @@ public static function register(): void
                         foreach ($handles as $cHandle => &$metadata) {
                             if ($metadata['finished'] == false) {
                                 $metadata['finished'] = true;
-                                self::finishMultiSpan(CURLE_OK, $cHandle, $curlHandleToAttributes, $metadata['span']?->get()); // there is no way to get information if it was OK or not without calling curl_multi_info_read
+                                self::finishMultiSpan(CURLE_OK, $cHandle, $curlHandleToAttributes, $metadata['span']); // there is no way to get information if it was OK or not without calling curl_multi_info_read
                             }
                         }
 
@@ -379,7 +378,7 @@ public static function register(): void
 
                         /** @psalm-suppress PossiblyNullArrayAccess */
                         $currentHandle['finished'] = true;
-                        self::finishMultiSpan($retVal['result'], $retVal['handle'], $curlHandleToAttributes, $currentHandle['span']?->get());
+                        self::finishMultiSpan($retVal['result'], $retVal['handle'], $curlHandleToAttributes, $currentHandle['span']);
                     }
                 }
             }