Is it a bird?
Is it a plane?
No, it’s a proverbial message in a digital bottle being hurled into outer space by a Bitcoiner – paid for in Bitcoin. The crypto project, created by @MediumSqueeze, leverages the cosmos to help people around the globe leap over governments and nation states to stay connected without the use of the internet.
Implications: unknown.
Powered by Spacebit.live, users can pay a fee in Bitcoin to send messages through satellites operated by Blockstream. The messages signal a growing zen for moving data, value, Bitcoin and crypto through outer space.
Blockstream, the blockchain technology company that launched satellite services in August of 2017, allows users to make Bitcoin transactions through leased satellites. The company has been developing the infrastructure primarily for users with limited internet access, empowering people in Africa, Europe and the Americas to make Bitcoin transactions without being connected to the web.
Spacebit, a Blockstream satellite client, has a simple user interface that makes it easy for crypto enthusiasts and tech heads to compose their messages and click ‘Send message to space.’
Users make small payments, worth three cents in BTC, via the Lightning Network, sending messages that can be received by users equipped with a Blockstream Satellite receiver.
Twitter user @Grubles tweeted a message hurled into space in January by an alleged early crypto adopter and developer. It was written in diary style, plotting the days.
“I kept a small amount of attention on bitcoin, and in 2016-2017, started following it closely, playing on testnet, and getting my skin in the game in 2017. The last year was amazing, I learned a lot, sent my first lightning testnet payment in early 2018, and was blown away, and got dizzy of the possibilities of the fast, cheap bitcoin micropayment possibilities.
So here I am, left my job, I have some money to keep me up and I’m building my first raspberry pi lightning node, and broadcasting messages from satellites. Still feels surreal at times.
So if you want to support some anon dev from a post soviet state, have at it, and thanks. My dream is to accumulate 1 btc, and I think that will be more than enough for the future.”
Although spacebit.live and Blockstream make it easy to send messages, they require a small satellite dish connected to a PC, laptop or Raspberry Pi to complete the transmission.
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