Bitcoin (BTC) could be mined outside Earth for the first time later this year. The American space company Starcloud wants to launch its second satellite with special hardware to mine the world’s largest cryptocurrency directly from space.
Bitcoin mining moves to space
Starcloud will be the first to mine Bitcoin in space, CEO Philip Johnston wrote on X on Saturday after revealing his plans in an interview with HyperChange.
The space company plans to launch its second satellite later this year. On board will be hardware that is specifically designed to mine Bitcoin.
Starcloud was founded in early 2024 with the aim of building massive data centers in orbit. The company wants to respond to the rapidly increasing demand for computing power, especially for artificial intelligence (AI). Nvidia, the well-known manufacturer of AI chips, is one of the investors behind the project.
“GPUs are about 30 times more expensive per kilowatt than ASICs,” Johnston said. “A 1-kilowatt GPU chip can cost around $30,000, while an ASIC is around $1,000.”
ASIC machines are special chips designed exclusively for Bitcoin mining. They perform one task: solving complex math puzzles to mine blocks of transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain.
The CEO expects that Bitcoin mining will eventually largely move to space.
“Bitcoin mining uses about 20 gigawatts of power continuously. There really is no point in doing this on Earth. In the final phase, this will all happen in space,” Johnston wrote on X.
Satellites as a gigantic data center
Starcloud is working on a network of approximately 88,000 satellites that together will form a large data center in space.
These satellites mainly run on solar energy. According to the company, this would be a solution for the enormous energy needs of both AI systems and crypto mining.
Starcloud already took an important step in November. Then a satellite was launched with a powerful NVIDIA H100 GPU on board. According to the company, that was the first time that such a heavy AI chip operated in space.
The next mission should go a step further with hardware specifically suited for Bitcoin mining.
Even send Bitcoin to Mars
While Starcloud is thinking about mining beyond Earth, other tech entrepreneurs are already working on ways to send Bitcoin through the solar system.
According to researchers Jose E. Puente and Carlos Puente, it would theoretically be possible to send a Bitcoin transaction to Mars in about three minutes. This can be done via optical communication links from, for example, NASA or Starlink.
The transaction would then be relayed via satellites, antennas or a relay around the moon before reaching Mars.
According to them, mining Bitcoin yourself on Mars is not an option for the time being. The large distance between Earth and Mars causes too much delay in the network.
Source: https://newsbit.nl/bitcoin-mining-gaat-de-ruimte-in-eerste-bedrijf-lanceert-satellietminers/
