Blockchain startup Blockstream has announced a new service that broadcasts real-time bitcoin blockchain data from a group of communication satellites to almost everyone on earth.

The company has launched Blockstream Satellite, which would boost participation in bitcoin, including those without internet access and people in places where high bandwidth prices make participating cost prohibitive.

"Today's launch of Blockstream Satellite gives even more people on the planet the choice to participate in Bitcoin. With more users accessing the Bitcoin blockchain with the free broadcast from Blockstream Satellite, we expect the global reach to drive more adoption and use cases for Bitcoin, while strengthening the overall robustness of the network,” said Dr. Adam Back, co-founder and CEO at Blockstream.

Blockstream Satellite is the world's first public satellite service that allows anyone to operate and maintain Bitcoin nodes, without the limitations of traditional network connectivity, the company said. It sends blocks in real-time, as well as recirculates older blocks, providing free access to the bitcoin blockchain for both existing and new users of the cryptocurrency. In addition, it provides an additional layer of reliability for blockchain data in the event of a network partition.

The Blockstream Satellite network currently consists of three geosynchronous satellites at various positions over Earth that cover four continents – Africa, Europe, South America, and North America, and available across two-thirds of the Earth's landmass. Ground stations, called teleports, uplink the public bitcoin blockchain data to the satellites in the network, which then broadcast the data to large areas across the globe. Additional teleports are being built out in phases to enable worldwide coverage, according to the official release.

Blockstream said that additional coverage areas will soon come online to reach almost every person on the planet by this year’s end. It said that additional satellites will be added to the Blockstream Satellite network enabling worldwide coverage and reaching nearly every person on the planet.

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