diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index cac297b14..87bd7e0d6 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # This file is automatically @generated by Cargo.
 # It is not intended for manual editing.
+version = 3
+
 [[package]]
 name = "account_manager"
 version = "0.3.5"
@@ -3756,6 +3758,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "slog-async",
  "slog-term",
  "sloggers",
+ "target_check",
  "task_executor",
  "tempfile",
  "tokio 1.5.0",
@@ -6331,6 +6334,13 @@ version = "1.0.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "55937e1799185b12863d447f42597ed69d9928686b8d88a1df17376a097d8369"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "target_check"
+version = "0.1.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "static_assertions",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "target_info"
 version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 89f4b0f2f..4b9a5b1b5 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ members = [
     "common/sensitive_url",
     "common/slot_clock",
     "common/task_executor",
+    "common/target_check",
     "common/test_random_derive",
     "common/validator_dir",
     "common/warp_utils",
diff --git a/common/target_check/Cargo.toml b/common/target_check/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8981483ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/target_check/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[package]
+name = "target_check"
+version = "0.1.0"
+authors = ["Michael Sproul <michael@sigmaprime.io>"]
+edition = "2018"
+
+[dependencies]
+static_assertions = "1.1.0"
diff --git a/common/target_check/src/lib.rs b/common/target_check/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..09f8c2bb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/target_check/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+//! This crate checks properties of the target architecture to ensure that it's compatible with
+//! Lighthouse.
+use static_assertions::assert_cfg;
+
+// In many places we assume `usize` and `u64` have the same in-memory representation.
+// We also use memory-mapped files extensively which are only really viable with 64-bit addressing.
+// It's unlikely we will want to support 128-bit architectures any time soon.
+assert_cfg!(
+    target_pointer_width = "64",
+    "Lighthouse requires a 64-bit CPU and operating system",
+);
diff --git a/lighthouse/Cargo.toml b/lighthouse/Cargo.toml
index 7746d5895..ff6c69547 100644
--- a/lighthouse/Cargo.toml
+++ b/lighthouse/Cargo.toml
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ lazy_static = "1.4.0"
 serde_json = "1.0.59"
 task_executor = { path = "../common/task_executor" }
 malloc_utils = { path = "../common/malloc_utils" }
+target_check = { path = "../common/target_check" }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tempfile = "3.1.0"
@@ -57,3 +58,8 @@ eth2_libp2p = { path = "../beacon_node/eth2_libp2p" }
 [[test]]
 name = "lighthouse_tests"
 path = "tests/main.rs"
+
+# Prevent cargo-udeps from flagging the dummy package `target_check`, which exists only
+# to assert properties of the compilation target.
+[package.metadata.cargo-udeps.ignore]
+normal = ["target_check"]