diff --git a/substrate/Cargo.lock b/substrate/Cargo.lock
index 0d586d4806..505d8eb229 100644
--- a/substrate/Cargo.lock
+++ b/substrate/Cargo.lock
@@ -2630,6 +2630,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "substrate-extrinsic-pool 0.1.0",
  "substrate-primitives 0.1.0",
  "substrate-runtime-primitives 0.1.0",
+ "substrate-runtime-version 0.1.0",
  "substrate-state-machine 0.1.0",
  "substrate-test-client 0.1.0",
  "tokio 0.1.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
diff --git a/substrate/substrate/rpc/Cargo.toml b/substrate/substrate/rpc/Cargo.toml
index 9f25736492..b209a3cd4e 100644
--- a/substrate/substrate/rpc/Cargo.toml
+++ b/substrate/substrate/rpc/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ substrate-executor = { path = "../executor" }
 substrate-extrinsic-pool = { path = "../extrinsic-pool" }
 substrate-primitives = { path = "../primitives" }
 substrate-runtime-primitives = { path = "../runtime/primitives" }
+substrate-runtime-version = { path = "../runtime/version" }
 substrate-state-machine = { path = "../state-machine" }
 tokio = "0.1.7"
 
diff --git a/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/chain/mod.rs b/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/chain/mod.rs
index 5662a5a0b3..bae10a50c0 100644
--- a/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/chain/mod.rs
+++ b/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/chain/mod.rs
@@ -21,10 +21,12 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 use client::{self, Client, BlockchainEvents};
 use jsonrpc_macros::pubsub;
 use jsonrpc_pubsub::SubscriptionId;
+use jsonrpc_macros::Trailing;
 use rpc::Result as RpcResult;
 use rpc::futures::{stream, Future, Sink, Stream};
 use runtime_primitives::generic::{BlockId, SignedBlock};
 use runtime_primitives::traits::Block as BlockT;
+use runtime_version::RuntimeVersion;
 use tokio::runtime::TaskExecutor;
 use primitives::{KeccakHasher, RlpCodec};
 
@@ -53,6 +55,10 @@ build_rpc_trait! {
 		#[rpc(name = "chain_getHead")]
 		fn head(&self) -> Result<Hash>;
 
+		/// Get the runtime version.
+		#[rpc(name = "chain_getRuntimeVersion")]
+		fn runtime_version(&self, Trailing<Hash>) -> Result<RuntimeVersion>;
+
 		#[pubsub(name = "chain_newHead")] {
 			/// New head subscription
 			#[rpc(name = "chain_subscribeNewHead", alias = ["subscribe_newHead", ])]
@@ -83,6 +89,19 @@ impl<B, E, Block: BlockT> Chain<B, E, Block> {
 	}
 }
 
+impl<B, E, Block> Chain<B, E, Block> where
+	Block: BlockT + 'static,
+	B: client::backend::Backend<Block, KeccakHasher, RlpCodec> + Send + Sync + 'static,
+	E: client::CallExecutor<Block, KeccakHasher, RlpCodec> + Send + Sync + 'static,
+{
+	fn unwrap_or_best(&self, hash: Trailing<Block::Hash>) -> Result<Block::Hash> {
+		Ok(match hash.into() {
+			None => self.client.info()?.chain.best_hash,
+			Some(hash) => hash,
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 impl<B, E, Block> ChainApi<Block::Hash, Block::Header, Block::Extrinsic> for Chain<B, E, Block> where
 	Block: BlockT + 'static,
 	B: client::backend::Backend<Block, KeccakHasher, RlpCodec> + Send + Sync + 'static,
@@ -102,6 +121,11 @@ impl<B, E, Block> ChainApi<Block::Hash, Block::Header, Block::Extrinsic> for Cha
 		Ok(self.client.info()?.chain.best_hash)
 	}
 
+	fn runtime_version(&self, at: Trailing<Block::Hash>) -> Result<RuntimeVersion> {
+		let at = self.unwrap_or_best(at)?;
+		Ok(self.client.runtime_version_at(&BlockId::Hash(at))?)
+	}
+
 	fn subscribe_new_head(&self, _metadata: Self::Metadata, subscriber: pubsub::Subscriber<Block::Header>) {
 		self.subscriptions.add(subscriber, |sink| {
 			// send current head right at the start.
diff --git a/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/chain/tests.rs b/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/chain/tests.rs
index eac9abd5c4..1f32705f80 100644
--- a/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/chain/tests.rs
+++ b/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/chain/tests.rs
@@ -117,3 +117,25 @@ fn should_notify_about_latest_block() {
 	// no more notifications on this channel
 	assert_eq!(core.block_on(next.into_future()).unwrap().0, None);
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn should_return_runtime_version() {
+	let core = ::tokio::runtime::Runtime::new().unwrap();
+	let remote = core.executor();
+
+	let client = Chain {
+		client: Arc::new(test_client::new()),
+		subscriptions: Subscriptions::new(remote),
+	};
+
+	assert_matches!(
+		client.runtime_version(None.into()),
+		Ok(ref ver) if ver == &RuntimeVersion {
+			spec_name: "test".into(),
+			impl_name: "parity-test".into(),
+			authoring_version: 1,
+			spec_version: 1,
+			impl_version: 1,
+		}
+	);
+}
diff --git a/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/lib.rs b/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/lib.rs
index 2cd0023bb3..3f76c1b5dd 100644
--- a/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/lib.rs
+++ b/substrate/substrate/rpc/src/lib.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ extern crate substrate_extrinsic_pool as extrinsic_pool;
 extern crate substrate_primitives as primitives;
 extern crate substrate_runtime_primitives as runtime_primitives;
 extern crate substrate_state_machine as state_machine;
+extern crate substrate_runtime_version as runtime_version;
 extern crate tokio;
 
 #[macro_use]
diff --git a/substrate/substrate/runtime/version/src/lib.rs b/substrate/substrate/runtime/version/src/lib.rs
index c4f223f8c3..1dbf4aa2da 100644
--- a/substrate/substrate/runtime/version/src/lib.rs
+++ b/substrate/substrate/runtime/version/src/lib.rs
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ macro_rules! ver_str {
 /// This triplet have different semantics and mis-interpretation could cause problems.
 /// In particular: bug fixes should result in an increment of `spec_version` and possibly `authoring_version`,
 /// absolutely not `impl_version` since they change the semantics of the runtime.
-#[derive(Clone, Encode)]
+#[derive(Clone, PartialEq, Eq, Encode)]
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "std", derive(Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, Decode))]
 pub struct RuntimeVersion {
 	/// Identifies the different Substrate runtimes. There'll be at least polkadot and demo.