RustChain Token Economics

June 14, 2026 · View on GitHub

Overview

RustChain Token (RTC) is the native cryptocurrency of the RustChain network. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies that reward computational power, RTC rewards hardware antiquity — the older your hardware, the more you earn.

Token Supply

Fixed Supply Model

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    RTC Total Supply                         │
│                      8,388,608 RTC                          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Premine (4 founders)   │  Mining Rewards                  │
│       503,316 RTC         │    7,885,292 RTC                 │
│         6%            │       94%                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Supply Breakdown

Allocation	Amount	Percentage	Purpose
Block Mining	7,885,292 RTC	94%	Epoch rewards for miners
Founders	125,829 RTC	1.5%	`founder_founders` core team
Dev Fund	125,829 RTC	1.5%	`founder_dev_fund` development
Team / Bounty	125,829 RTC	1.5%	`founder_team_bounty` contributions
Community	125,829 RTC	1.5%	`founder_community` airdrops, grants
Total	8,388,608 RTC	100%	Fixed ( $2^{23}$ ), no inflation

Distribution Milestones (March 2026)

Metric	Value
Total Wallets	500
Non-Founder Wallets	496
RTC to Contributors	~90,568 RTC
Bounty Payments	~27,000 RTC to 1,000+ recipients
Largest Single-Day Payout	1,995 RTC (B1tor, March 26, 2026)
Mining Rewards Distributed	~63,000 RTC (epoch settlements)
On-Chain Transactions	2,511
Top Contributor Earnings	3,258 RTC

Emission Schedule

graph LR
    subgraph "Year 1"
        Y1[547.5 RTC/year<br>1.5 RTC × 365 epochs]
    end
    
    subgraph "Year 5"
        Y5[~500 RTC/year<br>Slight reduction]
    end
    
    subgraph "Year 20+"
        Y20[Mining continues<br>until 8M cap]
    end
    
    Y1 --> Y5 --> Y20

At current rate (1.5 RTC/epoch):

Daily emission: ~1.5 RTC
Annual emission: ~547.5 RTC
Years to full emission: ~14,500 years

Antiquity Multipliers

Base Multipliers by Hardware

The core innovation of RustChain: older hardware earns more.

graph TD
    subgraph "Vintage Tier (1.8x - 2.5x)"
        G4[PowerPC G4<br>2.5×]
        G5[PowerPC G5<br>2.0×]
        G3[PowerPC G3<br>1.8×]
    end
    
    subgraph "Retro Tier (1.3x - 1.5x)"
        P8[IBM POWER8<br>1.5×]
        P4[Pentium 4<br>1.5×]
        C2[Core 2 Duo<br>1.3×]
    end
    
    subgraph "Modern Tier (1.0x - 1.2x)"
        M1[Apple Silicon<br>1.2×]
        RZ[Modern x86<br>1.0×]
    end

Complete Multiplier Table

Hardware	Era	Base Multiplier	Example Earnings/Epoch
PowerPC G4	1999-2005	2.5×	0.30 RTC
PowerPC G5	2003-2006	2.0×	0.24 RTC
PowerPC G3	1997-2003	1.8×	0.21 RTC
IBM POWER8	2014	1.5×	0.18 RTC
Pentium 4	2000-2008	1.5×	0.18 RTC
Pentium III	1999-2003	1.4×	0.17 RTC
Core 2 Duo	2006-2011	1.3×	0.16 RTC
Apple M1/M2/M3	2020+	1.2×	0.14 RTC
Modern x86_64	Current	1.0×	0.12 RTC
ARM (Raspberry Pi)	Current	0.0001×	~0 RTC
VM/Emulator	N/A	0.0000000025×	~0 RTC

Multiplier Rationale

Why reward old hardware?

Digital Preservation: Incentivize keeping vintage hardware operational
Sybil Resistance: Vintage hardware is rare and expensive
Environmental: Reuse existing hardware instead of e-waste
Fairness: Modern hardware already has advantages everywhere else

Time Decay Formula

Vintage Hardware Decay

To prevent permanent advantage, vintage hardware multipliers decay over time:

decay_factor = 1.0 - (0.15 × (years_since_launch - 5) / 5)
final_multiplier = 1.0 + (vintage_bonus × decay_factor)

Constraints:

Decay starts after 5 years from network launch
Minimum decay factor: 0.0 (multiplier floors at 1.0×)
Rate: 15% per year beyond year 5

Decay Example: PowerPC G4

Base multiplier: 2.5×
Vintage bonus: 1.5 (2.5 - 1.0)

Year 1:  decay = 1.0                    → 2.5×
Year 5:  decay = 1.0                    → 2.5×
Year 10: decay = 1.0 - (0.15 × 5/5)     → 2.275× (1.0 + 1.5 × 0.85)
Year 15: decay = 1.0 - (0.15 × 10/5)    → 2.05×  (1.0 + 1.5 × 0.70)
Year 20: decay = 1.0 - (0.15 × 15/5)    → 1.825× (1.0 + 1.5 × 0.55)
Year 30: decay = 0.0 (floor)            → 1.0×

graph LR
    Y1[Year 1<br>2.5×] --> Y5[Year 5<br>2.5×]
    Y5 --> Y10[Year 10<br>2.275×]
    Y10 --> Y15[Year 15<br>2.05×]
    Y15 --> Y20[Year 20<br>1.825×]
    Y20 --> Y30[Year 30<br>1.0×]

Loyalty Bonus

Modern Hardware Incentive

Modern hardware (≤5 years old) can earn loyalty bonuses for continuous uptime:

loyalty_bonus = min(0.5, uptime_years × 0.15)
final_multiplier = base_multiplier + loyalty_bonus

Constraints:

Rate: +15% per year of continuous mining
Maximum bonus: +50% (capped at 3.33 years)
Resets if miner goes offline for >7 days

Loyalty Example: Modern x86

Base multiplier: 1.0×

Year 0: 1.0×
Year 1: 1.0 + 0.15 = 1.15×
Year 2: 1.0 + 0.30 = 1.30×
Year 3: 1.0 + 0.45 = 1.45×
Year 4: 1.0 + 0.50 = 1.50× (capped)

Reward Distribution

Epoch Pot Distribution

Each epoch (24 hours), 1.5 RTC is distributed:

graph TD
    A[Epoch Pot: 1.5 RTC] --> B[Calculate Total Weight]
    B --> C[Sum of all multipliers]
    C --> D[Distribute Proportionally]
    D --> E[Miner A: weight/total × 1.5]
    D --> F[Miner B: weight/total × 1.5]
    D --> G[Miner N: weight/total × 1.5]

Distribution Formula

miner_reward = epoch_pot × (miner_multiplier / total_weight)

Example Distribution

Scenario: 5 miners in epoch

Miner	Hardware	Multiplier	Weight %	Reward
A	G4	2.5×	32.5%	0.487 RTC
B	G5	2.0×	26.0%	0.390 RTC
C	x86	1.0×	13.0%	0.195 RTC
D	x86	1.0×	13.0%	0.195 RTC
E	M1	1.2×	15.5%	0.234 RTC
Total		7.7	100%	1.501 RTC

wRTC Bridge (Solana)

Wrapped RTC

RTC can be bridged to Solana as wRTC for DeFi access:

graph LR
    subgraph RustChain
        RTC[RTC Token]
    end
    
    subgraph Bridge
        B[BoTTube Bridge]
    end
    
    subgraph Solana
        wRTC[wRTC Token]
        RAY[Raydium DEX]
        DS[DexScreener]
    end
    
    RTC -->|Lock| B
    B -->|Mint| wRTC
    wRTC --> RAY
    wRTC --> DS

wRTC Details

Property	Value
Token Mint	`12TAdKXxcGf6oCv4rqDz2NkgxjyHq6HQKoxKZYGf5i4X`
DEX	Raydium
Chart	DexScreener
Bridge	BoTTube Bridge
Ratio	1:1 (1 RTC = 1 wRTC)

Bridge Process

RTC → wRTC (Lock & Mint):

Send RTC to bridge address on RustChain
Bridge verifies transaction
wRTC minted on Solana to your wallet

wRTC → RTC (Burn & Release):

Send wRTC to bridge contract on Solana
wRTC burned
RTC released on RustChain

wRTC on Base (Ethereum L2)

Base Integration

wRTC is also available on Base L2:

Property	Value
Contract	`0x5683C10596AaA09AD7F4eF13CAB94b9b74A669c6`
DEX	Aerodrome
Bridge	bottube.ai/bridge/base

Value Proposition

Current Valuation

Metric	Value
Reference Price	$0.15 USD per RTC
Fully Diluted Value	~$1,258,291 USD
Circulating Supply	~90,568 RTC (contributor payouts + mining)
Market Cap	~$13,585 USD
Wallet Holders	500 (milestone reached March 26, 2026)
Bounties Paid	~27,000 RTC to 1,000+ recipients
Ledger Entries	2,511 on-chain transactions

Earning Potential

Hardware	Multiplier	Daily Earnings	Monthly	Yearly
G4 (solo)	2.5×	1.5 RTC	45 RTC	547 RTC
G4 (10 miners)	2.5×	0.375 RTC	11.25 RTC	137 RTC
x86 (10 miners)	1.0×	0.15 RTC	4.5 RTC	55 RTC

Earnings depend on total network weight

Bounty System

Contribution Rewards

Tier	Current Rate	After 35K Paid	After 50K Paid	Examples
Micro	1-10 RTC	1-8 RTC	1-5 RTC	Typo fix, small docs, first PR
Standard	20-50 RTC	15-40 RTC	10-25 RTC	Feature, refactor, tests
Major	75-150 RTC	55-115 RTC	40-75 RTC	Security fix, SDK, integration
Critical	200-400 RTC	150-300 RTC	100-200 RTC	Red team, consensus, vulnerability

Bounty Payout Scaling (RIP-306)

As the ecosystem matures and RTC distribution widens, bounty payouts scale down to protect token value for existing holders:

Milestone	Rate Adjustment	Rationale
0-27K RTC paid (current)	Full rates	Bootstrap phase — attract contributors
35K RTC paid	-25% across all tiers	Early maturity — 500+ wallets, ecosystem proven
50K RTC paid	-50% across all tiers	Growth phase — only high-impact gets premium
100K RTC paid	-75% — elite bounties only	Mature phase — RTC value should reflect scarcity

Why scale down?

500 wallet holders already exist — distribution goal met
50K of 8.3M supply (0.6%) allocated to bounties is approaching meaningful dilution
If RTC reference price increases, current bounty amounts become disproportionately expensive
Early contributors who earned at full rates benefit from increasing scarcity
The network is proven — we no longer need to overpay to attract contributors

What doesn't change:

Mining epoch rewards (1.5 RTC/epoch) — unchanged, consensus-driven
Antiquity multipliers — unchanged, hardware-based
Airdrop pool — separate allocation
The commitment to paying contributors — rates adjust, payments continue

Active Bounty Pools

Pool	Total	Status
Star Repo	200 RTC	Open
Run Miner 7 Days	500 RTC	Open
Referral Program	300 RTC	Open
Bug Reports	150 RTC	Open

Economic Security

Sybil Attack Cost

Running multiple miners is economically unfeasible:

Attack Vector	Cost	Reward	ROI
Buy 10 G4 Macs	~$2,000	~$137/year	14.6 years
Rent VMs	~$100/month	~$0.00001/year	Never
Emulate G4	$0	~$0.00001/year	Never

Why Vintage Hardware?

Scarcity: Limited supply of working vintage hardware
Cost: Expensive to acquire and maintain
Authenticity: Can't be faked (fingerprinting)
Decay: Multipliers decrease over time

500 Wallet Milestone (March 26, 2026)

On March 26, 2026, RustChain reached 500 unique wallet holders — a critical mass for a network that launched just four months earlier with zero marketing budget.

How We Got Here

Phase	Wallets	Strategy
Launch (Dec 2025)	8	Founder hardware only (G4s, G5, POWER8)
First External (Jan 2026)	15	Ryan's Factorio VM (first non-lab node)
Bounty System (Feb 2026)	50	1 RTC first-PR bounties attract contributors
Growth Sprint (Mar 2026)	500	1,000+ recipients, awesome list PRs, Moltbook presence

What 500 Wallets Means

Sybil-resistant distribution — 500 real wallets across diverse hardware
Community-driven growth — no airdrops to bots, every wallet earned RTC
Bounty system works — paying contributors builds both code AND distribution
Ready for DEX — sufficient holder count for healthy trading when wRTC bridge launches

Wallet Distribution

Balance Range	Wallets	% of Holders
> 1,000 RTC	~15	3%
100-1,000 RTC	~40	8%
10-100 RTC	~100	20%
1-10 RTC	~200	40%
< 1 RTC	~145	29%

This is a healthy distribution — most holders earned small amounts through first-PR bounties and mining, with larger balances going to consistent contributors. No whale concentration outside founder allocations.

Future Considerations

Potential Adjustments

Epoch Pot: May increase with network growth
New Hardware Tiers: As hardware ages, new tiers added
Decay Rates: Community governance may adjust
Bridge Fees: May introduce small fees for sustainability

Governance

Currently centralized (core team). Future plans:

Token-weighted voting
Proposal system
Community treasury

Next: See api-reference.md for all public endpoints.