Hardware Requirements for Proof of Antiquity
June 16, 2026 · View on GitHub
To run a RustChain miner, your system must meet the following requirements:
Core Requirements
- CPU: Any CPU that can run Python 3.6+.
- OS: Linux, macOS, Windows, or any other OS with a Python runtime.
- RAM: < 50 MB.
- Network: Outbound HTTPS access to
https://rustchain.org.
Hardware-Specific Performance (Antiquity Multipliers)
RustChain rewards older hardware. The following multipliers apply to your earnings:
| Hardware Tier | Multiplier | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Museum-Grade | 3.5x | DEC VAX, Inmos Transputer |
| Classic | 3.0x | Motorola 68000 (Amiga, classic Mac) |
| Workstation | 2.9x | Sun SPARC |
| Vintage G4 | 2.5x | PowerBook G4, iBook G4, Power Mac G4 |
| Vintage G5 | 2.0x | Power Mac G5 |
| Vintage G3 | 1.8x | Bondi Blue iMac era |
| Enterprise | 1.5x | IBM POWER8, Pentium 4 |
| Modern RISC-V | 1.4x | Generic RISC-V SBCs |
| Apple Silicon | 1.2x | M1, M2, M3, M4 |
| Modern x86 | 0.8x | Recent AMD/Intel CPUs |
| ARM SBC/NAS | 0.0005x | Raspberry Pi, etc. (Anti-farm penalty) |
Anti-Emulation & VM Policy
RustChain uses a complex hardware fingerprinting system to ensure rewards go to real physical hardware.
- Bare Metal: Highly recommended. All multipliers apply as intended.
- Virtual Machines (VMs): Detected by anti-emulation checks. Rewards are reduced by a factor of 10^{9}$$.
- Containers: Similar to VMs; reward penalty applies if the underlying hardware is not exposed.
Troubleshooting Hardware Detection
If your hardware is not being detected correctly:
- Ensure you are not running inside a VM/Docker.
- Verify that the system clock is synchronized (NTP).
- Re-run the installer with the same wallet name to refresh the attestation.