The Miner One startup company pulled off a noteworthy publicity stunt that the company says is aimed at inspiring the community and reminding people that Bitcoin is destined for great heights. A Miner One mining rig fitted with a satellite phone and ASIC chip was attached to a weather balloon and launched into the lower atmoshpere where it reached the very edge of space at 35000 metres (100,000 feet).

Miner One wants to remind people that bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general is really about the future and the revolutionary technology at its heart: so-called blockchain technology. And that is not going away.

The rig began mining Bitcoin after the chip was activated during the ascent, and the journey lasted over 2 hours with the balloon inflating to a diameter of 10 metres before exploding (as planned) and dropping the rig back to earth. A parachute was deployed safely and the rig was recovered from a field in Lithuania after being located with a GPS tracking system.

“We are bullish on bitcoin because it remains the world’s most popular and proven application of blockchain technology. And we see growing interest and adoption, despite recent market doldrums.”

They aren’t the only ones – the company surveyed 1500 community members and reported that 31% believe bitcoin will go higher than $15,000 this year, 26% project figures above $25,000, 10% believe it will go higher than $35,000, and over 8% think it will go above $45,000.

The company describe plans in a Medium post to “build a cutting-edge cryptocurrency mining centre” in Sweden with the proceeds of their ongoing ICO. Sweden was chosen for the low cost of electricity which, in the area chosen by Miner One, is 100% green energy.