The Singaporean based blockchain solution Qtum, which uses a modified Bitcoin Core combined with an enhanced version of the Ethereum Virtual Machine, has launched the first-ever blockchain node into space this Feb. 2. A video posted on YouTube was tweeted by Spacechain today, showing the satellite launch.
They’ve been running a countdown for it since Jan. 31 when it was first reported on Twitter. Qtum partners with Spacechain, an open-source company which aims to decentralize space colonization, which includes setting up a network of satellites to run a blockchain node, with funding from core bitcoin developers and engineered by global aerospace sciences institutions. Qtum have also announced a partnership with the Starbucks Chain on their Telegram group (which is the first medium for most of their announcements), of which the nature is still unknown.
Qtum’s main asset is their ability to facilitate the interoperability of major cryptocurrencies and to improve the smart contracts capabilities of blockchains like Ethereum, making them more secure and easier to manage. Thus, their native DApps are different from Ethereum, based on the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) Blockchain model which serves as an enhancement, especially for mobile devices and Internet of Things programs, while still being lightweight and compatible with the existing major blockchain solutions.
Spacechain’s 25-years old CEO Zheng Zuo announced and spoke about their inaugural launch of a satellite running a Qtum network in an interview from Nov. 2017. The satellite is a CubeSat (miniaturized satellites about the size of a tissue box), which uses commercial-off-the-shelf components on their electronics and structure from the Danish nanosatellite manufacturing and design company GomSpace. Their goal is to provide true decentralization for applications, with blockchain based solutions allied with novel space colonization technologies. This would reduce the growing dependence of internet services on multi-billion dollars corporations, like Amazon, Facebook, and Google.
