Bitcoin From Space: Blockstream CSO Explains Its Satellite Services

The blockchain development firm confirmed it has leased a fifth satellite on Dec. 17, which is being used to broadcast the Bitcoin blockchain to the Asia Pacific region, in addition to existing coverage over Africa, Europe, South and North America.

The satellite service provides internet-free Bitcoin transactions and information sharing to crypto users across five continents.

Along with the announcement, Blockstream reportedly launched a new application programming interface which enables the satellite network to transmit encrypted messages.

More than BitcoinBlockstream CSO Samson Mow spoke to Cointelegraph following the announcement this week to unpack the ramifications of their extended satellite coverage and the possibilities it creates for potential blockchain-based projects.

"All a user requires to receive Blockstream Satellite broadcasts is a low-cost standard satellite dish. So if they are running a full node and mainly receiving payments, they don't need an internet connection at all. To broadcast a transaction they could send it over an SMS bridge or a mesh network. Blockstream Satellite allows for users to get creative and build new solutions around the service."

One of the most important aspect of this satellite service is the backup protection it could potentially provide for the Bitcoin network in the event of a broad network blackout.

"For anyone relying on Bitcoin for buying or selling goods and services, it would be a major problem if they were completely cut off from the network due to say an undersea internet cable being severed. It would cause a network partition where nodes would go out of sync - so users there could potentially accept a transaction that's later invalidated. With Blockstream Satellite, as long as someone in a country is receiving, it would keep themselves and others in that region in sync with the rest of the Bitcoin network."

"Not only does Blockstream Satellite extend basic Bitcoin access to regions with no internet connectivity, it specifically promotes the adoption of Bitcoin full nodes by radically lowering the costs of operating one. Receiving blockchain data from Blockstream Satellite has no cost, unlike typical broadband connections which have limited bandwidth. This is great news for the node count and diversity of the network."

The satellite coverage also opens up the possibilities for applications beyond the realms of conventional Bitcoin transactions.

"We have some interesting stuff in the works, with the latest example being the Blockstream Satellite API. With this, we've combined our satellite technology with Lightning payments to create the first ever open satellite broadcasting service. With this, people can send totally private messages containing bitcoin market data, multisig transaction data, or even other blockchain data, which should open a lot of new application models."