The famous Canadian astronaut and fan of blockchain technology Chris Hadfield became the owner of the first bitcoins in his life, symbolically receiving them from a space satellite located 35,000 km from Earth.
Related: Blockchain hardware is now on International Space Station
The event was broadcast during the Asia Blockchain Summit 2020 held last week. The $100 BTC transaction was handled by Pixelmatic CEO and Director of Strategic Development at Blockstream Samson Mow.
Mow used the Blockstream Satellite service to send bitcoins. Usually, transactions carried out with its help are first sent to the mempool, which allows users to synchronize with the Bitcoin network even in the absence of the Internet.
However, in this case, the service was set up in such a way as to carry out a transaction exclusively from space from a transmitting communications node to three Blockstream satellites in geosynchronous orbit (Telstar 11N, Galaxy 18, Eutelsat 113).
The signal was sent to users on several continents who relayed the transaction to the Bitcoin blockchain via the terrestrial Internet. Initially, the entry appeared in the block explorer, and only after that the bitcoins did end up in Chris Hadfield's wallet.
The astronaut could not "hold back" his emotions, calling the incident "magic."
Retired Canadian Air Force Colonel and former ISS commander Hadfield visited space three times in 1995, 2001, and 2013. He was renowned worldwide for his performance on the ISS of the “space” hit of David Bowie's Space Oddity.