The Messenger runs on Pepecoin testnet, always. This page covers the node side: which binary, how the testnet node is configured next to the mainnet one, the chain rules the message format relies on, and how to get testnet coins. The message format itself is in 02-design.md.
Messaging is testnet-only as a product rule, enforced in code
(require_messaging_network() in arcade/config.py refuses any other
network). Tokens, NFTs and coins live on mainnet; messages, profiles and the
feed live on testnet. One application talks to both nodes.
The format is still designed to mainnet standardness rules, so that it
would relay anywhere: testnet sets fRequireStandard = false, and a format
that only worked there would be silently unrelayable on a real network.
Pepecoin Core v1.1.0 (released 2024-12-18) is the current release, and the same binaries serve mainnet and testnet. Download and verification are described in ../00-node-setup.md. In short:
| Check | Expected |
|---|---|
| SHA-256 (Linux x86_64) | 9d7ef948…f710b, matching SHA256SUMS.asc |
| GPG signature | Good, key 18250EC9 2E527E97 23E49116 FD415169 D2691927 |
| Signer | fingerprint matches contrib/gitian-keys/david2278-key.pgp in the Pepecoin repo |
| Binary ↔ source | pepecoind reports v1.1.0.0-4fb5a0cd9, the v1.1.0 tag commit |
Two caveats apply: the signing key expired 2026-01-02 (the signature predates expiry, so it is sound), and trust is single-channel (tarball, checksums, signature and key all come from the same GitHub organisation; the key is not on public keyservers).
Upstream ships builds for every platform the installer supports, so nothing needs to be built from source:
| Target | Asset |
|---|---|
| Linux x86_64 | pepecoin-1.1.0-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz |
| Linux aarch64 | pepecoin-1.1.0-aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.gz |
| Linux armhf (32-bit, e.g. Raspberry Pi) | pepecoin-1.1.0-arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.gz |
| Windows 64-bit | pepecoin-1.1.0-win64.zip |
| macOS | pepecoin-1.1.0-osx-unsigned.dmg |
The installer sets up both nodes side by side. Neither touches the other's data.
| Mainnet | Testnet | |
|---|---|---|
| Service (systemd user unit) | pepecoind-mainnet.service |
pepecoind-testnet.service |
| Datadir (Linux) | ~/.pepecoin |
~/.pepecoin-testnet |
| Config | pepecoin.conf |
pepecoin.conf with testnet=1 |
| Runs as | you | you |
| P2P / RPC | 33874 / 33873 | 44874 / 44873 |
| ZMQ hashblock / rawblock / rawtx | 28332 / 28333 / 28335 | 28432 / 28433 / 28435 |
| RPC auth | cookie | cookie |
dbcache |
512 MiB | 512 MiB |
Both nodes run as your own user because pepecoind always writes .cookie
with mode 0600, and no group membership, -rpccookiefile path or POSIX ACL
can share a 0600 file across users. Running as the same user as the
application makes cookie authentication work with no stored password at all.
The testnet node needs its wallet enabled: it pays message fees.
Check it:
systemctl --user status pepecoind-testnet
pepecoin-cli -datadir=$HOME/.pepecoin-testnet getblockchaininfo
pepecoin-cli -datadir=$HOME/.pepecoin-testnet getconnectioncount
Both testnet DNS seeds are compiled into the binary (chainparams.cpp), so
the node finds peers on its own over port 44874. Expect a small number of
peers; testnet is a quiet network. The testnet chain is deeper than its
activity suggests (well past 450,000 headers), so a first sync from scratch
takes a few hours. Mainnet Pepecoin is a young, low-volume chain and syncs
comfortably even on modest hardware.
The index bootstrap the installer downloads (see ../00-node-setup.md) covers the application's own index; the nodes still download and verify blocks themselves.
All checked in the Pepecoin v1.1.0 source (commit 4fb5a0cd):
| Rule | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dogecoin-derived | banner: "Bitcoin Core, Dogecoin Core, and Pepecoin Core" | binary |
| Testnet P2P / RPC ports | 44874 / 44873 | chainparams.cpp:282, chainparamsbase.cpp:48 |
Testnet addresses start with n |
PUBKEY_ADDRESS = 113 |
chainparams.cpp |
OP_RETURN script size |
≤ 83 bytes (MAX_OP_RETURN_RELAY), i.e. 80 bytes of data |
script/standard.h:30 |
OP_RETURN outputs per standard tx |
one (multi-op-return otherwise) |
policy/policy.cpp:115-119 |
| Bare multisig relayed | DEFAULT_PERMIT_BAREMULTISIG = true; x-of-3 is standard |
validation.h:143, policy/policy.cpp:41-48 |
Mainnet fRequireStandard |
true |
chainparams.cpp:177 |
Testnet / regtest fRequireStandard |
false |
chainparams.cpp:309, :408 |
-acceptnonstdtxn |
toggles it; refused on mainnet | init.cpp:1057, :1059 |
| Recommended min fee | 0.01 PEP/kB (RECOMMENDED_MIN_TX_FEE = COIN/100) |
policy/policy.h:23 |
| Soft dust limit | 0.01 PEP | policy/policy.h:70 |
| Hard dust limit (standardness) | 0.001 PEP (DUST/10) |
policy/policy.h:81 |
| Mempool ancestor / descendant limit | 25 | validation.h:74, :78 |
RPC names differ from modern Bitcoin Core: use signrawtransaction (not
…withwallet) and validateaddress (not getaddressinfo). generate,
generatetoaddress and fundrawtransaction all exist.
There are three dust thresholds, and the wallet's own floor
(DEFAULT_DISCARD_THRESHOLD, 0.01 PEP) is the one that binds when funding
through the node; see 02-design.md.
Messages are not squeezed into 80-byte OP_RETURN outputs. The application
already has a much larger carrier:
| Carrier | Payload bytes per transaction |
|---|---|
Class C (OP_RETURN) |
72, after the 4-byte marker and 4-byte type header |
| Class B (bare multisig) | 7,646 |
Class B is standard on mainnet, so it is the primary carrier for messages; Class C is used for small records such as key announcements. Consequences:
parsing.cpp:108-131), so a payload only reassembles
under the correct sender.encoding.cpp:37),
so that dust stays spendable by the sender rather than burned.Every message is a transaction, so the testnet wallet needs coins.
A new account on an arcade is given a one-time gift of test coins so it can claim its name, post and message straight away. The faucet is testnet-only by default.
Testnet allows minimum-difficulty blocks, which makes CPU mining practical
(pow.cpp:17-28):
bool AllowMinDifficultyForBlock(...)
{
if (!params.fPowAllowMinDifficultyBlocks) return false;
if (pindexLast->nHeight < 1250) return false;
// Allow a minimum-difficulty block if more than 2*nTargetSpacing has elapsed
return (pblock->GetBlockTime() > pindexLast->GetBlockTime() + params.nPowTargetSpacing*2);
}
| Heights | Ruleset | Min-difficulty allowed |
|---|---|---|
| 0–999 | base | yes |
| 1000–1249 | digishield | no |
| 1250–41,999 | minDifficulty | yes |
| 42,000– | auxpow | yes (inherited) |
So at current heights, if testnet has been quiet for more than 120
seconds (2 × 60 s spacing), the next block may be mined at powLimit
(0x00000fff…), roughly 2²⁰ expected Scrypt hashes. On a single CPU core
that typically takes a few minutes.
The command-line tool wraps this:
arcade-msg fund
It mines one block and stops. One block pays 10,000 PEP, enough for tens of thousands of messages. Coinbase maturity on testnet is 240 blocks, so mined coins become spendable about four hours later; mining more does not shorten that, because maturity is measured in chain height. Start it when you set up your key, not when you first want to send.
Each of these is handled by the installer:
RestrictAddressFamilies must include AF_NETLINK, or libzmq aborts at
startup.-daemonwait does not exist in this 0.13/0.14-era codebase. Use
Type=simple and run in the foreground.rpcauth HMAC uses the salt as the raw ASCII of the hex string, not
decoded hex (httprpc.cpp:118). Getting this wrong yields a silent
authentication failure..cookie is always mode 0600, so cookie auth only works if the client
runs as the same user as the daemon. Choose the service user around that.| Linux | Windows | |
|---|---|---|
| Service manager | systemd user units | logon tasks (no systemd) |
| Default datadir | ~/.pepecoin, ~/.pepecoin-testnet |
%APPDATA%\Pepecoin, %APPDATA%\Pepecoin-testnet |
| Binary location | ~/.local/bin |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\DogecoinArcade\bin |