You might have seen Ripple’s news yesterday, but turns out that is not the only big development in blockchain this week—it’s now exploring the final frontier. Yep, that’s right: blockchain in space.
If you don’t know, Ripple raised $55 million in funding yesterday, as well as adding seven new banks as clients, so its innovations in blockchain are definitely something to keep watching. And now space:
Earlier this week, the SolarCoin Foundation—a company that offers rewards in virtual currency for electricity generated by solar power generators—announced a partnership with Cloud Constellation, a cloud satellite startup which aims to provide data centers on satellites orbiting the planet.
Reportedly, SolarCoin will acquire data storage on Cloud Constellation’s network of satellites, known as the SpaceBelt, a conglomeration of low-orbiting satellites which will cross-connect existing satellite communications to provide the data the company is offering partners, like SolarCoin.
The spot on SpaceBelt’s network will enable the solar-blockchain-rewards company (those are three words I never thought to string together) to ensure better security of its blockchain wallets—since, you know, the wallets will be stored in space.
Cloud-mining-bitcoin (another interesting triad of words) company Genesis Mining has also brought its blockchain technology into orbit; the company released a video on its YouTube channel yesterday documenting the world’s first peer-to-peer bitcoin transaction in the stratosphere.
As you can see in the video below, the bitcoin transaction took place at an altitude of 34,000 kilometers above the Earth, and was done on August 30.
In other exciting cryptocurrency news, the Sunshine State is not about to be outdone by outer space—Florida Senator Dorothy Hukill is in the process of drafting a bill that would classify bitcoin and other virtual currencies as actual money.
“We want to make sure we’re encouraging good usage of digital currency—it is something that is going to become much more frequent, more businesses will accept it,” says Senator Hukill of the proposed bill, which should be discussed in committee for the first time in March of this year, adding that by drafting this legislation she is hoping to get ahead of the potential problems and security risks Florida consumers might face as virtual currency becomes a more popular type of payment
“I think it’s better not to wait until it’s such a significant problem in your state,” says Hukill.
To learn more about blockchain, join us at Bank Innovation Israel this November 1-3 in Tel Aviv. Learn more and register here.