Over the top interstellar adjectives are often used to describe bitcoin’s stratospheric price gain. It now appears that this phraseology is justified.
Blockstream Inc. has plans to make the digital ledger that underpins the cryptocurrency accessible through satellite signal so that people without Internet access, or in areas where bandwidth is expensive, can also effectively trade and mine bitcoin. They also tout the service as an extra level of reliability for bitcoin’s blockchain data in the event of network breakdown or disruptions.
Bitcoin has gained more than 50% since the start of this month. Plan to move a portion of the data off the main network was actioned last week in an effort to speed up trade execution and widen access, helping to fuel optimism. The price soared to a record $4,449.90 Tuesday before steadying.
“With more users accessing the bitcoin blockchain with the free broadcast from Blockstream Satellite, we expect the global reach to drive more adoption and use cases for bitcoin, while strengthening the overall robustness of the network,” Blockstream founder Adam Back stated in an e-mailed release.
Ground stations, named teleports, will sync the public bitcoin blockchain data to the satellite used on the network, which can broadcast the data to larger areas across the world.
The network comprises of three active satellites that cover, Europe, Africa, South America, and North America. By the time we reach 2018, Blockstream has plans to “reach almost every person on the planet.”
