Frequently Asked Questions

Common Questions.
Direct Answers.

Everything you need to know about SOST — mining, tokenomics, the DTD, the V30000 upgrade, and the (now legacy) gold reserve and PoPC. Click any question to expand.

GENERAL

About SOST

What is SOST?

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SOST is a CPU-friendly proof-of-work cryptocurrency built on ConvergenceX, a mining algorithm that requires 8 GB RAM per mining thread (4 GB dataset + 4 GB scratchpad) and 100,000 sequential rounds per attempt. Running a node requires only ~500 MB RAM. Since V15 (block #25,000) every block splits 50% to the miner and 50% to the DTD distribution. The Gold Funding Vault and the PoPC Pool receive no new emission. Historical: until #24,999 the split was 50% miner / 25% Gold Funding Vault / 25% PoPC Pool. Those addresses and everything they already hold remain on chain and publicly auditable — nothing new flows into them.

Was there a premine, ICO, or VC allocation?

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No. Zero premine, zero ICO, zero VC tokens. The only way to create SOST is to mine a valid block via ConvergenceX proof-of-work. Any block that mints more than the subsidy for its height is invalid by consensus.

What is the maximum supply?

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~4,669,201 SOST (Feigenbaum δ × 106). This is a hard cap enforced by construction — the emission formula mathematically converges to this upper bound. No tracking of cumulative supply is needed. ~95% will be mined in approximately 30 years (~12 epochs).

Is SOST pegged to gold?

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No. SOST is not pegged to gold and does not promise price stability. The Metals Reserve is an observable metric (reserve_value / circulating_supply), not a redemption right. SOST holders have no claim on the gold reserve. Markets price this information as they see fit.

When is the genesis block?

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March 15, 2026, 18:00:00 UTC. This is mainnet v2 — a clean regenesis following security and custody improvements.
MINING

Mining & Technology

Can I mine SOST with a GPU or ASIC?

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ConvergenceX is designed to be CPU-friendly. Each attempt requires 8 GB RAM (4 GB dataset + 4 GB scratchpad) and 100,000 strictly sequential rounds — intra-attempt parallelism is eliminated by state dependency. GPUs and ASICs cannot speed up a single attempt. The only parallelism available is running multiple independent attempts, which is what CPU cores already do. Preliminary estimates suggest low ASIC advantage multiples compared to >1000× for SHA-256.

What are the system requirements?

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Full Node (verify, send, receive): ~500 MB RAM. Any modern CPU. Verifies blocks using Transcript V2 in ~0.2ms per block. A 2 GB VPS is sufficient. No PoW computation — only cryptographic verification of proofs.

Miner (find new blocks): 8 GB RAM minimum per thread (4 GB dataset + 4 GB scratchpad). Modern multi-core CPU recommended. 16 GB total system RAM recommended. Each thread runs an independent attempt, so 4 threads need ~32 GB RAM.

Why the difference: The miner builds the full 4 GB dataset + 4 GB scratchpad to solve ConvergenceX. The node only verifies the compact Transcript V2 proof in each block — SHA256 hashes and merkle checks, no dataset needed. Mining is memory-hard (ASIC resistant), but verification is lightweight (anyone can run a node).

Build dependencies: build-essential cmake libssl-dev libsecp256k1-dev

What is the block reward and emission schedule?

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SOST emission follows a smooth epoch-based decay governed by the mathematical constant q = e-1/4 ≈ 0.7788007830714049:

• Initial reward R₀ = 7.85100863 SOST/block (785,100,863 stocks)
• Each epoch is exactly 131,553 blocks (~2.502907875095892 years — the Feigenbaum alpha constant α)
• Decay: reward(height) = floor(R₀ × qepoch) where epoch = height ÷ 131,553
• No halvings, no cliffs — continuous ~9.03% annual decay
• Asymptotic maximum supply: ~4,669,201 SOST (Feigenbaum δ × 10⁶, strict limit by mathematical construction)
• ~95% mined in ~30 years (~12 epochs)
• Split: 50% miner · 50% DTD from V15 (#25,000). Historical, until #24,999: 50% miner · 25% Gold Funding Vault · 25% PoPC Pool
• All arithmetic is deterministic integer-only (Q16.16 fixed-point). No floating-point operations — that would be a consensus failure.

How does difficulty adjustment work?

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SOST uses cASERT, a unified difficulty adjustment system with two components:

cASERT bitsQ (primary controller): since block 5175, bitsQ uses avg288 — comparing the average of the last 288 block intervals against the 600-second target. This replaced the earlier half-life exponential model (V1: 48h, V2: 24h — both historical only). Since block 5,270 the active rule is: no adjustment inside a ±15 s dead band, then a dynamic per-block cap scaled by deviation — 0.5% / 1.0% / 2.0% / 3.0% (3.0% is the ceiling). The median was removed from consensus at block 5,270. bitsQ is the primary long-term calibration mechanism.

cASERT equalizer: emergency-only stability controller with a height-gated ceiling. Pre-V12 (#5,750..#7,349): H13 ceiling, 21 active E7–H13, 22 reserved H14–H35. V12 (#7,350..#11,999): H20 ceiling, 28 active E7–H20, 15 reserved H21–H35. V13 (#12,000+, current): H35 ceiling — all 43 profiles E7–H35 active, none reserved. H10+ profiles carry margin=115. This completes the cASERT equalizer calibration. If the chain runs too fast relative to the ideal schedule (genesis + height × 600s), the equalizer hardens ConvergenceX stability requirements. It eases back toward B0 only when the chain is genuinely running slow. If mining stalls for 2+ hours, a zone-based decay mechanism gradually reduces the level to prevent chain halt. bitsQ corrects speed; the equalizer protects emission in emergency scenarios.

How does SOST resolve forks?

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SOST uses best-chain-by-cumulative-work selection, not longest-chain. Each block contributes work = floor(2^256 / (target + 1)). The chain with the highest total accumulated work wins. This prevents attacks using many easy blocks to outpace a shorter chain with more real work — the same approach used by Bitcoin.

Fork resolution is atomic: if a better chain is found, the node disconnects current blocks, connects the new chain, and recovers orphaned transactions to the mempool. If any block in the new chain fails validation, the entire reorganization is aborted and the original chain is fully restored. Maximum reorganization depth: 500 blocks (~3.5 days) for history before #30,000. From #30,000 (SACS V2, V30000 release), deep fork blocks beyond 500 that are post-activation are kept and judged strictly by valid cumulative work instead of being hard-rejected.

What is the smallest unit of SOST?

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1 stock = 0.00000001 SOST (10-8), analogous to Bitcoin's satoshi. All internal arithmetic uses stocks (integer-only, zero floating-point).
RESERVE

Metals Reserve

How does the gold reserve work?

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HISTORICAL — this stopped at block #25,000. Until V15, 25% of every block reward flowed to the Gold Funding Vault by consensus; since then the gold and PoPC emission shares are zero and that half of the block goes to the DTD distribution instead. What follows describes what the vault was designed to do with what it already holds. SOST periodically converts accumulated SOST to XAUT/PAXG via a rule-based TWAP execution policy (rate-limited, anti-momentum, publicly auditable). Purchased tokens are deposited into a Heritage Reserve on Ethereum mainnet — sealed by default, intended to remain perpetual.

Can anyone access or move the gold reserve?

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Not under normal operation. Note: the spend-side governance described here (dual-gate) was designed but is not active on chain — it was deferred and is now legacy, superseded by the DTD. The Heritage Reserve is sealed by default. Moving previously purchased reserve assets requires Emergency Catastrophe dual-gate authorization: ≥75% miner signaling (108 out of 144 blocks) AND a Execution Order. Neither party can act alone. Only two actions are permitted: E1 (rotate to other allowlisted metals) or E2 (liquidate-buy-redistribute).

When do gold purchases begin?

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No earlier than 8 months after public launch (February 2027, per rule G4 — public launch June 16, 2026), subject to sufficient SOST market liquidity. Gold purchases require converting accumulated SOST from the Gold Funding Vault into XAUT/PAXG. This requires SOST to have sufficient market liquidity for execution. If liquidity conditions are not met by Q2 2027, purchases will begin as soon as conditions allow. The vault stopped accumulating at block #25,000 — its emission share is now 0 — so it holds only what it received before V15. The Foundation reserves the right to allocate up to 50% of the vault’s accumulated SOST exclusively to fund future CEX listings.

First purchases target a 50/50 split between XAUt and PAXG. A rotation proposal between allowlisted metals (E1) can also be submitted following the same dual-gate process: ≥75% miner signaling + Execution Order.

Can I redeem SOST for gold?

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No. The Metals Reserve does not represent a claim on gold by SOST holders. There are no redemption rights. The reserve is a structural property of SOST — an observable metric, not a financial product.
PoPC

Proof of Personal Custody

What is PoPC?

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Proof of Personal Custody is a voluntary commitment protocol built around a single native-SOST bond. The PoPC Pool funding mechanism launched at genesis (March 15, 2026) — 25% of every block reward accumulated in the pool until #25,000, and has been 0 since V15. PoPC is now paused / legacy and has been superseded by the DTD / DTD Jackpot architecture; it is not required for any DTD eligibility. The earlier two-model gold-custody design (Model A self-custody bonds + Model B timelocked escrow) is historical and was replaced by the single native-SOST bond. PoPC is not tokenization, not staking, and not yield farming.

Any user, including SOST, can make direct donations to the Perpetual Vault (Gold Funding Vault: sost11a9c6fe1de076fc31c8e74ee084f8e5025d2bb4d) to support SOST and endow it with perpetual added value.

Is PoPC active?

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No. PoPC is paused / legacy and has been superseded by the DTD / DTD Jackpot architecture. Its emission share ended at #25,000 (V15) and has been zero since. There is no scheduled future activation of the custody contracts; the previously-stated target has been retired. PoPC is not required for any DTD eligibility.

Timeline Flexibility Notice: SOST reserves the right to accelerate or delay any committed timeline if it determines that SOST can be implemented with maximum guarantees of technical reliability and security, or if additional development time is required to meet those standards.

Are PoPC rewards guaranteed?

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No. Reward rates are operational reference parameters, not guaranteed. They may be adjusted, budgeted per epoch, or paused for security without changing consensus rules. They do not constitute interest, promised yield, or a financial obligation of SOST.

How does the PoPC bond work?

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PoPC was redesigned to a single native-SOST bond (the older Model A self-custody / Model B escrow split, with its 50/50 slash redistribution to the PoPC Pool and Gold Funding Vault, is historical). PoPC is currently paused / legacy and superseded by DTD / DTD Jackpot, with zero emission since V15 (#25,000), so there is no live bond, audit, or slash process running today.
GOVERNANCE

Protocol Governance

Can SOST change the rules?

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Not unilaterally. There is no DAO, no voting token and no admin key over the chain: rules change only through openly published, height-activated hard forks (V2 … V15, V16 / V30000) that each node operator chooses to run — a node that does not upgrade simply keeps the old rules. The maximum supply and the emission curve have never changed; the coinbase split changed once, at V15 (#25,000), through such a fork. SOST has no multisig with authority over consensus or monetary parameters. SOST can only execute a narrow set of operational actions (gold conversion, purchase pauses, PoPC management) under constitutional constraints and public attestation.

What happens if the chain dies?

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If the chain produces zero blocks for 90 consecutive days, the dead-man switch triggers and a 60-day Dissolution notice begins. Critical constraint: if no Emergency Catastrophe was authorized before the chain stopped (no blocks = no miner signaling possible), the reserve remains in Heritage state. Dissolution is a network lifecycle event, not a reserve liquidation mechanism.

Is SOST an investment product?

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No. SOST is a consensus. It is not an investment product, security, or financial instrument. SOST makes no representations about future price, utility, or availability. Participants should seek independent legal and financial advice before participating in any cryptocurrency system.
TECHNICAL

Technical Details

What consensus rules does SOST enforce?

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Full validation includes rules R1-R14 (block structure), S1-S12 (script/signature), and CB1-CB10 (coinbase). All consensus arithmetic is 100% integer — zero floating-point in any consensus path. The emission curve and maximum supply have never changed since genesis; other rules (coinbase split, cASERT, DTD) evolve only through openly published, height-activated hard forks. 15 constitutional rules (C1-C15) define the boundaries.

What ports does SOST use?

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P2P: port 19333 (default). RPC: port 18232 (default). The node connects to seed.sostcore.com:19333 automatically. RPC requires authentication via --rpc-user and --rpc-pass.

To create your RPC credentials, choose any username and password when starting the node with --rpc-user=<youruser> --rpc-pass=<yourpass>. These are set by you — there is no central registration. The seed node at seed.sostcore.com:19333 connects automatically on first launch.

Contact & Support

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GitHub: github.com/Neob1844/sost-core/issues
For security vulnerabilities, use the private contact form at sostcore.com/sost-contact.html. Do NOT open a public GitHub issue for security disclosures.
General Contact

What license is SOST released under?

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MIT License — fully open source Open source. Free to read, study, audit, and contribute. Free to use, modify, and deploy without any restriction. Source code is public at github.com/Neob1844/sost-core.

V15, V16 & V30000

What is the DTD?

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The DTD (Deterministic Token Distribution) is a consensus-run distribution of part of each block’s value to eligible network participants. It is deterministic (the winner is computed by the rules, never chosen by anyone), keyless at the SOST layer and supply-neutral (it moves coins, it never mints them). Since V15 (#25,000) it receives 50% of every block.

Anyone can audit it: same blocks + same rules = same result. Re-derive the eligible set and the winner from the public chain, or use the explorer’s getlotteryaudit. See how the DTD works.

What changed at block 25,000 (V15)?

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The coinbase split became 50% miner / 50% DTD. The Gold Funding Vault and PoPC Pool emission shares became zero: they keep what they received before #25,000, publicly auditable, but nothing new flows into them. The DTD is permissionless — no PoPC bond is required to be eligible.

Why: a network-funded gold reserve leaned on third-party custodians and tokenized-gold issuers. Returning that value on-chain to the people who secure the network removes custody, counterparty and regulatory risk. The gold pages stay online as the historical record.

What activates at block 30,000 (V16 / V30000)?

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  • DTD eligibility tightens: 288-block recency, conditional cooldown and anti-dominance.
  • DTD Jackpot V2: an independent, node-gated, PoW-weighted draw. First V2 draw at #30,186.
  • Native-asset layer (issue / transfer / burn with supply conservation), tokenization and the SOST-layer DEX — all behind the S14 admin gate (public access disabled at activation).
  • SACS V2: deep forks after #30,000 are judged strictly by valid cumulative work.

Activation is automatic by height. Operators must run the V30000 release before #30,000 — see the upgrade guide.

How long does a new node take to sync?

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About 25 minutes from genesis to the tip. Measured for the V30000 release: genesis → #28,077 in 25m06s, with the tip hash and 5 checkpoint hashes matching the live chain. Checkpointed blocks skip only the full ConvergenceX recompute; --full-verify forces it for every block.

What is the SOST Price Reference?

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No peg. One SOST is initially referenced to 0.8886707657 mg of gold — a transparent unit of account and a proposed initial price for a first listing, not a guarantee and not redeemable. Once SOST trades, the market sets its price. See SOST Price Reference.

V13 & Beacon

What activates at block 12,000 (V13)?

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V13 is a coordinated hard fork that activates several non-controversial improvements at block 12,000:

  • Future-timestamp drift cap 60 s → 30 s. Blocks more than 30 s ahead of validator time are rejected. NTP is strongly recommended (not consensus-mandatory).
  • SbPoW hardening. The non-outsourceable signature now also binds timestamp, difficulty, merkle root, and a chain-specific genesis hash — closes timestamp-restamp, difficulty-fork, tx-set mutation, and cross-chain replay seams. See docs/V13_SBPOW_HARDENING.md.
  • cASERT E7-H35 active (all 43 profiles) and DTD lottery cooldown 5 → 6.
  • Beacon Phase II-A, II-B, and III all activate at V13_HEIGHT (advisory only — see Beacon questions below).

NOT activated in V13: PoPC automated lifecycle and Gold Vault spend-side governance. They were deferred at the time and are now paused / legacy, superseded by the DTD / DTD Jackpot architecture.

What is Beacon? Does it affect mining or block validity?

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Beacon is an advisory notice system. It does not affect mining rewards, block validity, chain selection, transaction validation, wallet balances, PoPC, Gold Vault, or consensus.

Beacon lets the operator publish signed advisory notices (upgrade reminders, operational warnings, etc.) that nodes and miners display in their banners. Invalid, expired, malformed, or unsigned Beacon notices are simply ignored by the node.

  • Phase II-A. Local notices.json read on startup, single-signature ECDSA verification.
  • Phase II-B. Adds N-of-M threshold signatures (default 3-of-5), revocation, and an optional mirror_url metadata pointer (the node never fetches it).
  • Phase III. P2P gossip of valid signed notices. Active at V13_HEIGHT.

How does Beacon P2P actually work?

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Beacon P2P (Phase III) is gossip between SOST nodes — not users on Telegram. Each node receives BCNN messages and runs an ordered pipeline:

  • Reject if the notice exceeds 4 KB (size cap).
  • Reject if it fails to parse, or carries more than one notice per message.
  • Reject if the signature is invalid (or fails the 3-of-5 threshold check for II-B notices).
  • Reject if the network does not match (mainnet vs testnet).
  • Reject if the notice is expired or not yet activated.
  • Reject if the notice ID is already in the 32-entry LRU dedup cache.
  • Reject if the sending peer exceeds 8 new notices per minute.
  • Otherwise: cache the notice ID and relay it to all other version-acked peers.

Beacon P2P does not move coins, does not execute commands, does not fetch HTTP, does not restart software, and does not validate or invalidate blocks. Full design: docs/V13_BEACON_PHASE_III.md.

What is the difference between Beacon P2P and the OTC / P2P Board?

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They share the letters "P2P" but are different things.

  • Beacon P2P — node-to-node gossip of signed advisory notices. Lives inside the SOST node software. Advisory only, no money movement.
  • Community OTC / P2P Board — user-to-user discussion room inside SOST Talk. Users post voluntary buy/sell talk among themselves. SOST does not intermediate, custody, escrow, or guarantee any trade posted there. Users trade at their own risk.

Does SOST run an exchange, broker, or escrow service?

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No. SOST does not operate an exchange, broker, trading desk, market maker, escrow service, custody program, or official liquidity program. The OTC / P2P Board inside SOST Talk is a community discussion board only — SOST never holds buyer or seller funds. The Atomic Swap DEX is non-custodial software: trades settle as atomic swaps between the two parties, and it never holds a seed, a private key or user funds.

Admins never DM first. Anyone claiming "official escrow", "guaranteed buyer/seller", "risk-free profit", or asking you to verify your wallet to trade is a scammer. Report and block. SOST Sentinel (the chat moderation bot) auto-flags these patterns.

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