Blockstream Satellite is the world's first public satellite service that allows anyone to operate and maintain Bitcoin nodes.

Blockstream, a provider blockchain and financial cryptography, has unveiled Blockstream Satellite, a new service that broadcasts real-time Bitcoin blockchain data from a group of communication satellites in space to almost everyone on the planet.

Blockstream Satellite enables further participation in Bitcoin, including the billions of people in the world without Internet access and people in places where bandwidth prices make participating cost-prohibitive.

This is a boost for regions like Africa which grapple with lack of Internet connectivity as well as expensive broadband. The African continent consists of remote locations, making it hard to receive clear Internet coverage.

The innovation comes at a time Bitcoin value is enjoying a purple patch. Last week, the price of a single Bitcoin hit an all-time high of above $3 500, dragging up the value of hundreds of newer, smaller digital rivals in its wake.

Fascinating glimpse

South Africans are trading huge volumes of Bitcoins. According to Luno, a local exchange, 2 241 826 Bitcoins were traded via its platform between Friday and Sunday.

"The blockchain offers a fascinating glimpse into how money might be moved around in the future and how transactions might be made more secure, transparent and accountable," says Charles Pittaway, MD of Sage Pay. "Banks, insurers and other global companies are abuzz with the opportunities blockchain could bring in terms of how the global economy works and how businesses record transactions.

"Though it's far from the mainstream, technologies such as blockchain and Bitcoin could one day offer compelling answers to the issues of security and fraud we face. In a time of digital invention, business builders must use the smartest technologies to reinvent their payments processes. Those that use trusted, convenient and secure payment mechanisms will win in the digital economy," Pittaway says.

Blockstream Satellite is available across two-thirds of the Earth's landmass, and additional coverage areas will soon come online to reach almost every person on the planet by the end of the year, the firm says.

"Bitcoin is a powerful and transformative Internet native digital money that has blazed a trail of disruption, with its full potential yet to unfold," says Dr Adam Back, co-founder and CEO of Blockstream.

"Because it's permissionless, Bitcoin enables anyone to freely create new financial applications and other innovations that use the blockchain that haven't been possible before. The launch of Blockstream Satellite gives even more people on the planet the choice to participate in Bitcoin. With more users accessing the Bitcoin blockchain with the free broadcast from Blockstream Satellite, we expect the global reach to drive more adoption and use cases for Bitcoin, while strengthening the overall robustness of the network."

World's first

Blockstream Satellite is the world's first public satellite service that allows anyone to operate and maintain Bitcoin nodes, without the constraints of traditional network connectivity.

The platform sends blocks in real-time, as well as recirculates older blocks, providing free access to the Bitcoin blockchain for both long-time and new users of the crypto-currency.

Blockstream Satellite provides an additional layer of reliability for blockchain data in the event of a network partition.

The network consists of three geosynchronous satellites at various positions over Earth that cover four continents: Africa, Europe, South America and North America.

The company says by the end of 2017, more satellites will be added to the Blockstream Satellite network, enabling worldwide coverage and reaching nearly every person on the planet.

Ground stations called teleports uplink the public Bitcoin blockchain data to the satellites in the network, which then broadcast the data to large areas across the globe. Additional teleports are being built out in phases to enable worldwide coverage, Back notes.

Open source

Blockstream Satellite makes extensive use of open source software. GNU Radio, an open source software development toolkit, enables the cross-platform implementation of software-defined radios (SDRs), he explains.

The use of SDRs eliminates the need for specialised hardware, which reduces cost and makes the technology widely available.

To further ensure performance and reliability, Blockstream Satellite utilises the Fast Internet Bitcoin Relay Engine, an open source protocol based on several years of experience operating and studying the Bitcoin Relay Network.

Together, these open source technologies power the Blockstream Satellite network, enabling Blockstream to provide this free service reliably and cost-effectively.

Blockstream Satellite aims to extend Bitcoin everywhere in the world, including in countries across Asia, South America and Africa, where the number of nodes today is small.

"When I first heard of Blockstream Satellite, I immediately recognised its great potential to bring Bitcoin to regions of the world where Internet access is either unavailable or expensive. Not to mention its ability to provide redundancy when Internet access is temporarily unavailable," says Tim Akinbo, who runs the only Bitcoin node in West Africa.