From Cyberspace to Outer Space

Tension is building in the mines. As the 4th Halving nears and the block reward trims to 3.125 bitcoin per block, miners must not only adapt to a significantly diminished reward, but contend with an increasingly profit-hostile future which might have surprised even the prescient Nakamoto. Indeed, despite widespread hope that fiat states will come to accept peaceful coexistence with bitcoin—I, too, would prefer this outcome—and despite some modest grounds for optimism, history would remind us that kings and emperors do not willingly relinquish power. This is no less true of modern fiat empires, as Lyn Alden’s survey of U.S. fiat interventionism explains.¹ History, coupled with ongoing observation of federal actions—foreign and domestic—will be sufficient to calibrate our expectations and help guard us against understandable, yet self-deceptive naivete. Accordingly, of all the imminent mining challenges, the most formidable might well be increasing state opposition. If accurate, then conditions may rapidly deteriorate such that off-planet mining might merit serious consideration.

The Miners’ Earthly Dilemma

As the Halvings inexorably march on, the mining equation keeps changing. For example, in 14 short years mining has evolved from enthusiasts on personal computers to mammoth structures housing thousands of water-cooled Antminer S19s with 5nm chips pulling over 750 MW of electricity.

Each stage of mining evolution has faced unique challenges. Those anticipated with the 4th Halving this April will include, among others: assured access to cheaper energy, acquisition of more efficient ASIC chips despite a global shortage and shipment delays (exacerbated by U.S.-China-Taiwan animus), the possibility of 3nm chip miners, hashrate increase, hashprice decline, the impact of AI, environmental propaganda attacks, and maddeningly-inscrutable bitcoin value projections made no less easier by the advent of large investment firms in the bitcoin ecosystem—all within the context of a frangible, debt-bloated, de-dollarizing economy.

Were these the only issues to resolve they’d be sufficiently daunting. However, a more problematic attack vector, as I’ve presented previously,² is the possibility of the fiat-empowered superpower and its retinue of dollar-subservient vassals hindering free market bitcoin activities.

Logically, the character and magnitude of state friction would be correlated and proportionate to bitcoin popularity over fiat’s existing sphere of influence and control. If the U.S. monetary system, reaping the ill effects of decades of manipulation and recent global de-dollarization, begins imploding while bitcoin strengthens, federal response will be strong. It will be unlikely to accept contraction of its fiat power and be open to a bitcoin standard. Rather, it will cling to the legacy system from which it so easily accumulated its power and attack the emergence. In so doing, upon realizing that it can’t kill bitcoin, it will first seek to isolate it from its owners in cyberspace.³ A complementary line of attack would then be to neutralize mining. With bitcoin isolated and mining disrupted, in their view, public trust in bitcoin would dissolve; the threat would be neutralized.

Elements of a mining attack might include two elements: First, a propaganda operation: facts notwithstanding, miners would be slandered as shadowy crypto profiteers irresponsibly increasing CO2 emissions and consuming vast stores of finite energy while driving prices up and diverting energy from socially-beneficial uses. Second, a bureaucratic operation: miners would face a torrent of regulation, from licensing and zoning requirements, environmental restrictions, energy and CO2 quotas, to unreasonable reporting requirements replete with unprecedented KYC intrusions, and punitive taxation. In short, the combined economic, regulatory, and propaganda challenges of such an attack would be near insurmountable.

In recent years, when a jurisdiction became inhospitable—one is reminded of China’s mining ban still in effect since mid 2021⁴—the conventional playbook offered but two options: attempt to go underground (risky), or relocate to a bitcoin-hospitable jurisdiction (disruptive and costly).

The Search for New Sanctuary

Analyzing this potential quandary militarily, we might turn to a concept from the field of counterinsurgent warfare: sanctuary. U.S. Army doctrine recognizes the historic principle that insurgents require areas of sanctuary within which to rest, reconsolidate, and sustain operations:

Access to external . . . sanctuaries [have] always influenced the effectiveness of insurgencies . . . provid[ing] insurgents places to rebuild and reorganize without fear of counterinsurgent interference. . . Sanctuaries traditionally were physical safe havens, such as base areas, and this form of safe haven still exists . . . [But,] modern target acquisition and intelligence-gathering technology make insurgents in isolation, even in neighboring states, more vulnerable.⁵

How might this apply to bitcoin mining? If we posit the State inevitably regarding bitcoin as a monetary insurgent against which it must act to preserve its fiat power, miners will scramble to find inviolable sanctuaries in order to continue operations.

Currently, miners possess adequate jurisdictions within which to mine. In fact, hope yet flickers as we see a few bitcoin-friendly jurisdictions emerging, such as Oman,⁶—usually within what the West calls the “third world,” but which might be accurately labelled the neo-colonial, fiat-wrecked world. Additionally, even despite the 2021 mining ban the hashrate in China quickly recovered and exceeded its previous rate.⁷ This situation, however, can change with astonishing speed. Accommodating jurisdictions today can quickly turn inhospitable tomorrow.

Viewed differently: Bitcoin already has existential sanctuary— anchored securely in the blockchain, it is existentially permissionless and will continue existing untouchable in cyberspace. Its existence may be said to be inviolate. However, it currently lacks reproductive sanctuary. Mining occurs not in cyberspace, but in geographic space, within nations where market hospitality, regulation, and energy access is unpredictable. Further, mining now largely occurs within extensive, immobile structures which cannot easily “go underground” or quickly relocate.

But even the above simplification is inaccurate in that bitcoin’s existence is not fully secure in cyberspace without mining. As Andreas Antonopoulos explains,

Mining secures the bitcoin system and enables the emergence of network-wide consensus without a central authority. . . The purpose of mining is not the creation of new bitcoin. That’s the incentive system. Mining is the mechanism by which bitcoin’s security is decentralized.⁸

Thus, mining is necessary to secure the bitcoin ecosystem as well as to forge new coin. As such, if earthly mining sanctuaries start dwindling under persecution of an ailing fiat geriatric, in light of recent commercial space success, miners might do well to look starward, to the ungoverned frontier of space. Space offers the ultimate physical sanctuary, freed from the hostile overreaches of earthbound authorities. It might provide the physical sanctuary elegantly complementing bitcoin’s cyber sanctuary.

Extraterrestrial Dreams

Inspired by Elon Musk’s Space-X and Starlink ventures which provide conceptual proof-of-principle for considering the feasibility of off-planet solar mining, what form might such an endeavor take?

One could visualize mining rigs nestled in modular, expandable mining satellites, minesats, outfitted with wings of ultra-light solar cells and inflatable mirrors placed into high, sun-synchronous orbits (SSO) (~ 600-1000 km above the Earth) perpetually facing the sun for uninterrupted energy harvesting. Incidentally, a number of nations including the U.S, China, Japan, and the UK, also see incredible potential in off-planet solar energy and are already pursuing Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) for use on Earth.⁹

Ever the earthbound miner’s challenge, heat dissipation remains a problem even in frigid space as it cannot be dissipated through conduction or convection. Instead, satellites and other structures usually rely on radiation to offload heat. For example, the International Space Station (ISS) employs a system called the External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS) employing heat radiators positioned in the shade side.¹⁰ Minesats would likely use a similar system for cooling.

Again, borrowing from Musk’s Starlink example, these higher orbit, SSO minesats would either network to a constellation of lower orbit smallsats (small satellites) which provide broadband internet connectivity to the planet, or connect directly to the bitcoin nodal network themselves.

Operating from the frontier of space, ungoverned by nation states, mining would be freed of licensing and zoning requirements, as well as CO2 and energy propaganda smear campaigns.

To take our thought experiment further, one could imagine this fleet of solar-powered minesats transported to their orbits from launchpads in forward-thinking, bitcoin-embracing nations, such as El Salvador, and potentially Argentina (should the pro-bitcoin presidential candidate Javier Milei win his upcoming election). In the case of El Salvador, it could provide not only physical sanctuary for politically-attacked firms like Space-X¹¹ but, located over a thousand miles nearer the equator than any U.S. launch location, would provide a geographically superior planetary location enabling spacecraft to achieve escape velocity more efficiently. One could even postulate the migration of bitcoin-specific mining chip research and manufacturing to such a visionary nation, symbiotically co-locating the essential elements and activities of bitcoin.

Not long ago the idea of a private company outperforming NASA by employing reusable, upright-landing spacecraft and deploying a constellation of satellites providing global internet access would have been considered quixotic and naïve. Equally outlandish: that a nation would declare bitcoin legal tender. Perhaps the idea of extraterrestrial, satellite-based bitcoin mining facilitated by a visionary company that is repeatedly taking NASA to school, and partnering with a bitcoin-embracing nation of the Global South is not such a long shot. Indeed, it might well be the bright orange path.

1.Lyn Alden, Broken Money, Why Our Financial System is Failing Us and How We Can Make it Better, pp 109-150.

2.https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-must-become-a-medium-of-exchange-to-survive

3.Ibid

4.https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58896545

5.Field Manual 3-24 Counterinsurgency, HQ, Department of the Army, Dec 2006, p 1-16.

6.https://www.forbes.com/sites/irinaheaver/2023/08/24/omans-bold-bitcoin-play-11-billion-investment-on-bitcoin-mining-infrastructure/?sh=bb7118c2709a

7.https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/12/09/bitcoin-hashrate-approaches-full-recovery-from-china-crackdown/

8.Andreas Antonopoulos, Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain, 2d ed., 229.

9.https://theconversation.com/a-solar-power-station-in-space-heres-how-it-would-work-and-the-benefits-it-could-bring-179344 Also see: https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2020/02/space-based-solar-power

10.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_Active_Thermal_Control_System

11.https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-spacex-discriminating-against-asylees-and-refugees-hiring#:~:text=The%20lawsuit%20alleges%20that%2C%20from,and%20Nationality%20Act%20(INA). Also see https://www.rawstory.com/elizabeth-warrens-fight-with-elon-musk-heats-up-as-she-calls-for-starlink-investigation/

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PRESS RELEASE. Seattle, WA, April 19, 2023 — Space and Time and Microsoft announce that developers can now deploy the Space and Time data warehouse directly from the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, an online store providing applications and services for use on Azure. The one-click deployment provides customers with an accelerated on-ramp to easily access, manage and perform analytics on blockchain-native data.

As a leader in intelligent computing and AI, Microsoft is committed to supporting its customers and partners with their business needs, including Web3 scenarios and use cases. In September 2022, Microsoft’s venture capital fund, M12, led a funding round for Space and Time. The one-click deployment of Space and Time on the Azure Marketplace provides developers with a trustless intermediary to quickly and easily onboard large volumes of enterprise data to smart contracts, as well as new use cases for indexed blockchain data.

“At Microsoft, we are empowering growth across emerging markets—including blockchain and distributed data. Together, Microsoft Azure and Space and Time will provide developers with the tools they need to build the next generation of blockchain use cases,” said Kathleen Mitford, CVP of Global Industry Marketing.

The integration allows businesses to leverage the benefits of a decentralized data warehouse without rearchitecting their existing infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build on the blockchain without sacrificing compute power or security. The comprehensive Microsoft Azure cloud services and industry-leading identity and security capabilities provide a trusted set of services and tools to develop Web3 applications in this new era of ubiquitous computing.

Space and Time, a leader in Web3 data warehousing, joins real-time data indexed from major blockchains with customer-provided off-chain datasets. The Space and Time hybrid transactional and analytic (HTAP) data warehouse comes pre-loaded with real-time indexed blockchain data, provided for free.

The one-click deployment enables customers to easily integrate the Space and Time data warehouse with their existing enterprise infrastructure. Connecting blockchain data to Azure compute will generate new use cases for base-layer blockchains and developers of decentralized applications.

“The need for verifiable data across blockchains, enterprises and AI has never been more important. We provide enterprises with the ability to integrate blockchain data into their applications and business processes, which is critical for both customer growth and enabling responsible data stewards,” said Space and Time CEO and Co-Founder Nate Holiday. “We’re excited to extend our partnership with Microsoft to bridge enterprise data assets with blockchain and AI innovation.”

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. https://www.microsoft.com/

About Space and Time

Space and Time is the first Web3-native decentralized data warehouse that joins tamperproof on-chain and off-chain data to deliver enterprise use cases to smart contracts. Space and Time has developed a novel cryptography called Proof of SQL℠ that allows developers to connect analytics directly to smart contracts, opening up a wealth of powerful new use cases and business logic on blockchain technology. Space and Time is built from the ground up as a multichain data platform for developers in financial services, gaming, DeFi, or any project requiring verifiable data across enterprise, blockchain and AI.

For more information, visit: Website | Twitter | Discord | Telegram | LinkedIn | YouTube

For media inquiries, please contact: Spencer Reeves, [email protected]

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

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Bitquery launched its Streaming API in early March, giving users to access blockchain data in real time.

With Bitquery’s APIs, Web3 builders have had access to extensive data from over 40+ blockchain networks. As the demand for blockchain data continues to grow, Bitquery has been at the forefront of providing reliable and comprehensive data to its users. The Streaming API is the latest addition to Bitquery’s suite of APIs, offering a fast and efficient way to access real-time blockchain data.

With a free developer account, you can easily create a query with built-in GraphQL IDE. As you run your first query, you can refer to the schema in the same tab or find your doubts answered in the documentation.

Challenges in Accessing Blockchain Data

While web3 has the potential to revolutionize various industries, it comes with its challenges too.

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin block size towers at a whopping 465 GB, expanding at a mind-boggling rate of 124%. The Ethereum blockchain, on the other hand, boasts an astronomical block size of 879.55 GB. Capturing and making accessible the huge amount of data stored on a blockchain network is a challenge in itself.

What’s more, the data has to be cleaned and stored in a structured, standardized format for it to be useful for all applications. Do not forget the thousands of engineering man-hours required to arrive at this stage.

Without indexing, developers would need to search through an entire blockchain network to find the specific data they need, which would be time-consuming and inefficient.

This is why it is important to have a system for filtering or locating the data, and here comes into play the ability to query blockchain data. Querying blockchain data means asking specific questions or making specific requests for data that is stored on the blockchain network without having to sift through large amounts of irrelevant information.

Bitquery’s APIs provide developers with the ability to query blockchain data quickly and easily, using a user-friendly explorer and a GraphQL interface.

What is the Need for Blockchain data?

By providing real-time data about the blockchain including transactions and trades, Bitquery is empowering individuals to make informed decisions and take advantage of opportunities in the blockchain space. This is particularly important for individuals and small businesses who may not have the resources to access blockchain data as useful information.

Bitquery’s Streaming API is also enabling developers to create decentralized applications (DApps) that provide financial services on the blockchain, such as lending and borrowing platforms, further expanding financial inclusion. Ultimately, this level of transparency and access to information helps to drive innovation and growth in the blockchain space.

Some common use cases of Bitquery Streaming APIs

There are a lot of things happening all the time on blockchain networks, but what if you only care about specific events, such as swap activity or smart contract creation? Bitquery has a solution for that too!

Bitquery’s Streaming API allows you to “subscribe” or listen to specific types of events happening on the blockchain in real time. This way, you don’t have to keep checking for updates – you can just ask the Streaming API to let you know when something happens.

DEX Trading

Early adopters of Bitquery’s Streaming API are leveraging its real-time data capabilities to track and analyze macroeconomic events in the crypto market including decentralized exchange (DEX) trades.

For developers building trading bots and algorithmic trading platforms, the DEX Trades API provides information on price, volume, and the latest trades for specific tokens on various DEXs like Uniswap, PancakeSwap and Bitcoin.com’s Verse DEX.

Compliance and Investigation

If you work in a crypto exchange’s compliance team, you can use Bitquery’s Streaming API to keep a close eye on your transactions and quickly catch any shady or illegal activities. These APIs let you filter transactions based on things like the amount, and recipient address. And the best part? You can set up webhooks to monitor different wallets and get real-time alerts whenever something fishy is going on. So you can sit back, relax, and let the Bitquery API do the heavy lifting for you!

Tracking Whales and Institutional Accounts

News such as “Shiba Inu moves X% today as a whale has moved a massive SHIB amount worth so many million” can signal significant changes in market sentiment and impact the value of an asset. Create your own trackers to track the movement of assets you care about.

NFT Transfers & Trades

Staying up to date with the latest NFT transfers is crucial for anyone interested in the NFT market. Bitquery’s NFT API is a powerful tool that enables developers to fetch real-time metadata, ownership data, transfer data, and pricing information for NFTs on various blockchain networks. With this API, developers can easily build applications that interact with NFTs and provide users with up-to-date information about their favourite NFTs.

Want to see how the Streaming API can be visualised in real-time? Check out the API Visual Demo.

Blockchain Data in the Cloud

Bitquery’s blockchain data is not just limited to GraphQL interfaces. It’s now possible to access this data through Amazon S3, and Bitquery plans to expand this service to cover all major cloud data providers. This means developers will have easy access to all the indexed blockchain data they need, all in one place.

Need help getting started? Reach out to the Bitquery team on telegram, their official community or discord.

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Bitcoin.com is the premier source for everything crypto-related.
Contact the Media team on [email protected] to talk about press releases, sponsored posts, podcasts and other options.

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