Two tech scientists have printed a paper exploring the feasibility of deploying Bitcoin as an interplanetary financial commonplace for monetary transactions between Earth and Mars. Apparently, BTC will be transferred in as little as three minutes utilizing current applied sciences, however solely wants a human or machine to obtain it on the purple planet.
Worldwide house businesses are busy engaged on plans to terraform Mars, and normally carry up the topic of water, radiation, and agriculture; nevertheless, this groundbreaking analysis speculates foreign money as a frontier that could be simply as important because the others.
Late final month, Jose E. Puente and Carlos Puente launched a whitepaper titled “Bitcoin as an interplanetary Financial Customary with Proof-of-Transit Timestamping,” suggesting that the apex cryptocurrency’s shortage, decentralized verification mannequin, and predictable issuance make it a “pure” candidate for a common financial commonplace.
Proof-of-Transit Timestamping to Ship BTC Between Earth and Mars by Counting on Floor Stations and Satellites
The principle problem right here is the three to 22-minute radio transmission delay between Earth and Mars, which makes it not possible to conduct synchronized Bitcoin mining actions on each planets. This stage of latency would additionally make real-time proof-of-work (PoW) consensus impractical and even easy cost unreliable.
The proposed Proof-of-Transit Timestamping (PoTT) mannequin goals to unravel this bottleneck because it means that if a Bitcoin consumer desires to ship a cost to somebody on Mars sooner or later, then that transaction could be delivered by completely different stations, corresponding to floor antennas, satellites, and even by way of a relay across the moon.
PoTT introduces a proof-of-concept cryptographic, tamper-evident audit system the place the transaction is signed and timestamped at every relay station earlier than persevering with the journey till it reaches the recipient’s vacation spot. If a block or transaction is delayed, the consensus algorithm tells precisely the place the transmission delay occurred.
The researchers famous that PoTT serves as a receipt layer on the Bitcoin and Lightning Community whereas leveraging optical hyperlinks constructed by NASA, Elon Musk’s Starlink, or different satellite tv for pc suppliers. In response to them, the expertise is “basically prepared” and Bitcoin might grow to be the primary foreign money to function throughout planets as quickly as a secure hyperlink is established between Earth and Mars.
As soon as up and operating, BTC Lightning transactions might attain Mars in as little as three minutes, or so long as 22 minutes below a worst-case situation.
Jose and Carlos Puente assured that the consensus mechanism doesn’t alter Bitcoin’s layer-1 economics or its financial coverage; as an alternative, it provides a accountability layer that enables Mars to course of BTC transactions, Lightning funds, and sidechains domestically, whereas nonetheless back-pegging towards the Layer-1 on Earth for settlement.
Technically, Bitcoin mining gained’t happen on Mars, however the planet might have an area financial system primarily based on BTC pegged to the availability obtainable on Earth. Shopper funds could be made immediately over Lightning channels, whereas bulk transactions could be settled asynchronously between each planets.
On addressing the problem with the two-week blackout interval on Mars that happens each 26 months, their resolution is to intentionally route transactions across the Solar utilizing relay satellites to keep away from the blackout. Jose Puente defined that PoTT capabilities like all peculiar Bitcoin timestamping expertise besides that it may lengthen into outer house.
Bitcoin is Planet-Agnostic and has Already Made it to House
The idea builds on prime of Blockstream’s satellite tv for pc service from 2018, when the blockchain growth agency leased 5 satellites to broadcast the Bitcoin community over Africa, Europe, South and North America, and the Asia Pacific, offering internet-free transactions and knowledge sharing to crypto customers throughout the 5 continents. The corporate additionally launched an API that enabled the satellites to transmit encrypted messages, whereas permitting customers to pay for the service utilizing micropayments on the Lightning Community.
In August 2020, SpaceChain partnered with the European House Company (ESA) to finish the primary Bitcoin transaction from the Worldwide House Station (ISS). This was made doable by transmitting encrypted information from a floor station to the ISS, the place a {hardware} pockets containing the non-public key signed off on the transaction. The space-as-a-service centered blockchain startup delivered the multi-sig {hardware} pockets expertise to the house station by way of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that was launched on the finish of 2019.
Nevertheless, the largest caveat is that for a Bitcoin transaction to happen on Mars, a human or an AI would should be current, which hasn’t occurred but. At the moment, solely rovers, landers, and orbiters from NASA and different house businesses have explored the planet’s floor.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin has began accepting cryptocurrencies, together with BTC, Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), USDT, and USDC, however to date the corporate’s shuttles have solely reached about 100 kilometers above Earth.
Musk’s SpaceX is aiming to succeed in Mars by the tip of 2026, and plans to construct a self-sustaining settlement there. Like Jose Puente, the Tesla and X proprietor additionally argued {that a} standardized type of cash is required to transact between Earth and Mars, however expressed considerations over Bitcoin’s 10-minute block time.
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PoTT Prepared for Early Prototyping as House Companies Race to Ship People to Mars
Puente argued that Lightning Community addresses this problem, as PoTT and Lightning mix to offer native velocity with international settlement that works throughout planets.
Whereas making his case for Bitcoin being essentially the most acceptable type of interplanetary foreign money, the tech entrepreneur stated that if humanity is severe about changing into a multi-planet civilization, then it wants an open, impartial financial base that’s not depending on any single firm, authorities, or floor station.
He additionally famous that PoTT is designed to be planet-agnostic throughout a star’s liveable zone, which means that the journey receipts it generates might have come from transactions despatched to the moon or some other planet.
At the moment, the analysis is concentrated on Earth and Mars as a result of it’s the cleanest near-term case examine. The authors reiterated that the proposal for Bitcoin as a shared financial commonplace between the neighboring planets is already concrete sufficient for early prototyping.
On the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is buying and selling at $113,966, up 1.46% within the final 24 hours.
