The complete technical specification of SOST Protocol — ConvergenceX proof-of-work, Feigenbaum emission schedule, Metals Reserve architecture, and Proof of Personal Custody. Version 3.7, March 2026.
Proof-of-Work that produces a mathematical certificate. Replaces the hash lottery with gradient descent convergence, memory-hard scratchpad dependency, checkpoint Merkle trees, and formal stability basin verification. The result is a verifiable proof that meaningful mathematical work occurred, producing useful entropy as a byproduct.
Automatic, constitutional accumulation of gold reserve. Every mined block allocates 25% to a Gold Vault. The Foundation converts accumulated SOST to tokenized gold exposure (XAUT/PAXG) through an automated pipeline with public attestation. The reserve is Heritage sealed — perpetual and untouched by default.
Voluntary custody commitments audited by PoW-derived entropy. PoPC uses the entropy triple from ConvergenceX blocks to schedule random audits of gold custody — no oracle, no trusted third party, no governance. The audit schedule is a deterministic function of the proof-of-work itself.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Algorithm | ConvergenceX (4GB RAM, 100K rounds, sequential, stability certificate) |
| Block time | 600 seconds target |
| Max supply | 4,669,201 SOST (hard cap by construction) |
| Initial reward | 7.85100863 SOST/block |
| Coinbase split | 50% miner / 25% Gold Vault / 25% PoPC Pool |
| Annual decay | ~9.03% (smooth exponential, no halvings) |
| Epoch length | 131,553 blocks (~2.503 years) |
| Difficulty | ASERT Q16.16, 24h half-life, per-block adjustment |
| Stability check | k probes × g steps, dual criteria |
| Checkpoints | 16 per attempt, Merkle tree, SPV-verifiable |
| Consensus arithmetic | 100% integer (zero floating-point) |
| Premine / ICO / VCs | None |
| Consensus governance | None — immutable at genesis |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Reserve chain | Ethereum mainnet |
| Reserve mode | Heritage (sealed by default) |
| Default gold split | 50/50 XAUt/PAXG (adjustable operationally) |
| Emergency authorization | PoW ≥75% (W=144) + Foundation Execution Order |
| Emergency actions | E1: ROTATE / E2: LIQUIDATE→BUY→REDISTRIBUTE |
No entity — including the Foundation — can modify consensus rules after genesis. SOST has no DAO, no voting token, and no multisig with authority over consensus or monetary parameters.
| Rule | Status |
|---|---|
| Emission schedule | Immutable at genesis |
| Coinbase split | Immutable at genesis |
| Difficulty algorithm | Immutable at genesis |
| Supply cap | Immutable at genesis |
| Constitutional constraints | Immutable at genesis |
Foundation executes operational actions under constitutional constraints and public attestations. No operational action can modify consensus rules.
| Action | Scope |
|---|---|
| Gold Vault conversion | SOST→XAUT/PAXG purchases, every batch attested on-chain |
| 50/50 split adjustment | Future purchases only, disclosed in batch reports |
| Purchase pause | May pause without consensus, disclosed via batch reports |
| PoPC contract management | May pause new contracts for critical bugs; existing unaffected |
| Reserve asset movement | Requires Emergency Catastrophe authorization only |
| Source | Mechanism |
|---|---|
| Mining | Miners earn SOST and decide to hold or sell |
| Model A bonds | Participants must buy SOST to create bonds — direct buy pressure |
| Model B distribution | SOST distributed to gold holders — organic distribution to non-crypto users |
| Reserve sales | Foundation sells SOST to buy gold — sell-side liquidity and price discovery |
| Mechanic | Effect |
|---|---|
| Smooth exponential decay | 9.03% annual reduction in new issuance — no cliff events |
| Slash recycling | 100% redistributed to PoPC Pool (50%) and Gold Vault (50%) |
| Reputation limits | Large commitments require proven track record |
| Long contracts | 9-12 month commitments remove SOST from circulation |