diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 14293fb..d0b897e 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ pycryptodomex>=3.7.0
 requests>=2.9.1
 vdf>=3.3
 gevent>=1.3.0
-protobuf>~3.0; python_version >= '3'
+protobuf~=3.0; python_version >= '3'
 protobuf<3.18.0; python_version < '3'
 gevent-eventemitter~=2.1
 cachetools>=3.0.0
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 382f8f2..5113a34 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ install_requires = [
 install_extras = {
     'client': [
         'gevent>=1.3.0',
-        'protobuf>~3.0; python_version >= "3"',
+        'protobuf~=3.0; python_version >= "3"',
         'protobuf<3.18.0; python_version < "3"',
         'gevent-eventemitter~=2.1',
     ],