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One Small Step for Bitcoin - SpaceChain Secured Transfer From International Space Station
SpaceChain said the test advances its dreams of building a decentralized blockchain infrastructure in space.
By Danny Nelson
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 9:45 a.m. Published Aug 18, 2020, 5:43 p.m.
SpaceChain, the U.K. crypto firm with extraterrestrial aspirations, secured a bitcoin transfer with its multi-signature transaction hardware orbiting Earth every 90 minutes.
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- SpaceChain's International Space Station-hosted (ISS) hardware authorized a 0.0099 BTC (about $92 at the time) transfer initiated by Chief Technology Officer Jeff Garzik on June 26, the decentralization company disclosed Tuesday.
- Developed by GomSpace and installed on the ISS on June 25, that hardware holds a private key needed to verify blockchain transactions via the "multi-signature" technique.
- Data can only reach the ISS via the craft's encrypted ground station links. SpaceChain says this adds security and resilience to transaction authorizations.
- Representatives did not immediately answer CoinDesk's questions as to why a transaction initiated on June 26 was only made public nearly two months later.
- Although the ISS hardware cannot communicate with other crafts, SpaceChain hopes to build and launch robust decentralized blockchain infrastructure that can do so.
Read more: A Bitcoin Wallet Is Orbiting the Earth at 5 Miles Per Second
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