The future of free Internet and cryptocurrency: orbital satellites with bitcoin nodes

Censorship has always been one of the greatest threats to freedom, the fundamentals of human rights and opportunities. For a long time, it was used to conceal important information, which ultimately led to tragic consequences.

Lacking accurate information, society cannot mobilize to solve critical problems. As a result, unresolved problems only complicate the life of society.

One of the most vivid examples of censorship in the modern world is China, which created the Great Firewall, or the Great Chinese firewall for the country's Internet provision. This system filters and censors the Chinese Internet space with 340 million users, 40,000 Internet police officers are involved in its work.

It is estimated that the Great Firewall has blocked 500,000 sites, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and The New York Times. In addition, information about past Chinese revolutions in Tibet and Tiananmen Square is removed from various resources.

For an attempt to bypass the system or create content with critical remarks against the government, Internet users can go to jail. Currently, at least 80 people are serving prison sentences, including 30 journalists. Also in China, anonymity is completely prohibited in the network, so before publishing on social networks or anywhere else, users are required to confirm their identity.

The situation with Internet censorship in China sounds like something from the dystopia "1984", and the problem, of course, is not limited to this country. It is difficult to find a state in a world where censorship would be completely absent. The Internet Freedom Report 2018 indicates that in 26 countries since 2017, including the United States, the level of Internet censorship has increased.

Fortunately, the integration of the bitcoin blockchain and space satellites in Earth orbit can provide a communication channel capable of overcoming censorship anywhere in the world.

Blockstream Satellites is a constellation of four satellites in geosynchronous orbit with the code names GALAXY18, EUTELSAT 113, TELSTAR 11N and TELSTAR 18V. They provide coverage for most of North America, South America, Europe and Asia. However, in Saudi Arabia, Iran and a large part of Russia there is a gap in coverage. At the same time, Blockstream satellites still provide coverage for most people in the world.

Before connecting to the Blockstream Satellite network, users must purchase a small satellite dish and a USB receiver, all this costs only about $ 100.

Blockstream Satellites is designed to run a full Bitcoin node, which includes all the blockchain entries. The fact is that users who do not have enough local Internet to send or receive bitcoins can connect to Blockstream Satellites. This makes the Bitcoin network more reliable, since in this case it can be used, even in the event of natural disasters and power and Internet outages.

In addition to the ability to broadcast Bitcoin blockchain and Blockstream Satellites transactions, you can send simple text messages and even files around the world if their size is less than 10 KB. Anyone who has the appropriate equipment will be able to get information regardless of the censorship applied in his country.

Data transfer using Blockstream Satellites will be inexpensive, payment is accepted in bitcoins. Due to its unchanged and decentralized nature, BTC is the ideal choice for paying for a service. Using bitcoins, the user can remain anonymous, which can save his life in violation of the law on censorship. In addition, no centralized organization can intervene in the Bitcoin network, which guarantees the continuity and stability of Blockstream Satellites payments.

Since the use of Blockstream Satellites involves a small fee, and the commission per transaction in bitcoins can increase to $ 1 or $ 10, Blockstream Satellites uses Bitning Network technology for bitcoin payments.

Lightning Network is a Bitcoin Level 2 scalable solution that functions by opening a Lightning channel with a normal blockchain transaction and closing that channel with another transaction. While the channel is open, an infinite number of bitcoin transactions with almost zero commission can be sent via it. Thus, the use of the Blockstream Satellites Lightning solution enables users to avoid high commissions when sending micropayments.

Posted July 07, 2019
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