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If you've ever been part of a Bitcoin question and answer session, chances are you've come across some version of this question:
"What happens if the electricity grid is interrupted, an electromagnetic pulse sweeps away our computers or is there a terrestrial emergency?"
It appears that Blockstream, a Bitcoin development company responsible for both open source and Bitcoin commercial technologies, has probably been asked this question and has done something about it.
Blockstream launched the first Bitcoin satellite in August 2017, but with the recent addition of its fifth Bitcoin satellite, it now offers worldwide coverage. What is a Bitcoin satellite? These are satellites that continuously transmit Bitcoin blockchain all over the world for free. They allow Bitcoin transactions to be sent from anywhere in the world with the appropriate satellite equipment and also allow a complete node to operate from anywhere with the appropriate equipment.
Bitcoin satellites go far beyond an emergency plan for a terrestrial emergency. They are actually an important component to favor the ideological objectives of the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin exists to be money resistant to censorship, but for nodes to communicate with each other, they need to transmit transactions over the Internet. Internet access is unfortunately not decentralized and not always available. This means that Internet service providers could interfere with access to Bitcoin for certain people and that people living in areas without an internet infrastructure do not have access to Bitcoin. In addition, satellites can provide cost savings and improve network stability.
Satellites are one of the only methods we have to reduce dependency on large ISPs in the Bitcoin network. Satellites can also be connected to mesh networks – devices to device networks – to create a more robust Bitcoin network that is independent of ISPs.
Blockchain networks, including bitcoin, represent a fundamental retelling of the way we structure our systems and networks. The goal is to eliminate the ability of any part to interfere with the common networks used by the whole of humanity, to create something that is really resistant to direct manipulation and as such can be considered reliable in ways that none of the our current technological infrastructure can be. This is the intrinsic goal of the blockchain and cryptocurrency movement, and the inclusion of satellite nodes brings the Bitcoin blockchain a step closer to that goal.
It is important to recognize that this technology is a real-time experiment on how to create a new kind of system and that this experiment has enormous implications for the entire structure of human society. Although this experiment is still far from this conclusion, the inclusion of satellite relay nodes in a decentralized network is a new and important tool. It represents the implementation of a new form of thinking that transcends the mentality that guided the development of our technology in the twentieth century. The development of technology is now driven by an ethos different from the one that built the giants of modern technology, and is a fascinating moment to observe the changing of the guard.
In many ways, the development of Bitcoin and other decentralized networks has been predicted by the centralization of modern technology companies. The history of technology development is characterized by a period of centralization during initial development and then decentralization during the integration of this technology. The technology put in place by the great actors of industrial technology prepares the bases for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies and these new technologies are introducing the inevitable decentralization of our current systems.
As we watch the satellites launched into our night sky streaming data on the first decentralized digital currency of humanity, it's a time to stop and appreciate something truly new. Regardless of the outcome of this or prices, it is surprising to observe something that has never been attempted before.
And looking back it could be,
A small step for Bitcoin,
A big step for humanity.
