diff --git a/srcpkgs/synapse/template b/srcpkgs/synapse/template
index 307d3d08ade..51ae6d8eb47 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/synapse/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/synapse/template
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 # Template file for 'synapse'
 pkgname=synapse
-version=1.67.0
+version=1.68.0
 revision=1
 build_style=python3-pep517
+build_helper=rust
 make_check_target=tests
 make_install_target="matrix_synapse-${version}-*-*-*.whl"
-hostmakedepends="python3-poetry-core"
+hostmakedepends="python3-poetry-core python3-setuptools-rust cargo"
 depends="python3-jsonschema python3-frozendict python3-canonicaljson
  python3-signedjson python3-pynacl python3-service_identity python3-Twisted
  python3-openssl python3-yaml python3-pyasn1 python3-pyasn1-modules
@@ -22,7 +23,11 @@ license="Apache-2.0"
 homepage="https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse"
 changelog="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/matrix-org/synapse/develop/CHANGES.md"
 distfiles="https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/archive/v${version}.tar.gz"
-checksum=85eeb24890c4b8e68f1e5ca4d5e69e1eb49e67cc33c450dc7c1fe7e70c023c68
+checksum=3da9f788530905abc1c5db02f0cb2afd01b65463fe6962f1c4394ac153aad8ac
+
+if [ "$CROSS_BUILD" ]; then
+	makedepends+=" rust-std"
+fi
 
 system_accounts="synapse"
 synapse_homedir="/var/lib/synapse"
@@ -32,12 +37,21 @@ make_dirs="
 	/etc/synapse 755 synapse synapse
 	/var/log/synapse 0755 synapse synapse"
 
+post_patch() {
+	vsed -i '/^setuptools_rust/d' pyproject.toml
+}
+
 pre_check() {
 	unzip ${make_install_target} "*.dist-info/*"
+	[ -d build/lib* ] && cp -r tests build/lib*
 }
 
 do_check() {
-	PYTHONPATH="." trial3 ${makejobs} tests
+	PYTHONPATH="$(cd build/lib* && pwd):." trial3 ${makejobs} tests
+}
+
+post_check() {
+	rm -r build/lib*/tests
 }
 
 post_install() {