Ethereum is rocketing out of this world with SpaceX and SpaceChain

Can Ethereum, also known as the “World Computer,” function outside this world — in space?

Singapore-based SpaceChain plans to put the idea to the test with today’s launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will carry an Ethereum node to the International Space Station. 

Blockchain-based systems such as Bitcoin and Ethereum depend on decentralization to distribute their digital assets and services to users around the world without the need of a central authority.

However, about 65% of the Bitcoin network’s hashing power is located in China, revealing that the world’s largest cryptocurrency is not as decentralized as envisioned by creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

Could blockchain nodes in space help achieve Nakamoto’s vision for truly decentralized cryptocurrency?

“A lot of decentralized applications are still built on centralized servers like AWS and other kinds of centralized servers,” said Zee Zheng, co-founder and CEO of SpaceChain, in an interview with Forkast.News. “But… it’s actually when the network becomes more and more valuable, you actually need a potentially decentralized infrastructure to support that.”

Centralized woes
Large cryptocurrency miners such as those in China often coalesce around cheap sources of electricity to keep their mining rigs powered, cooled and profitable.

But the clustering of mining hash power in areas with cheap power has not always been to the benefit of cryptocurrency networks.

Problems arising from the increasing amount of mining centralization were recently highlighted when Chinese national and regional authorities tried to reign in the cryptocurrency sector. China’s coal-rich Inner Mongolia province — a hub for Bitcoin production — imposed an outright ban on crypto mining. When Chinese authorities then issued new warnings against crypto mining, the price of Bitcoin plunged.

Last year, extensive flooding and landslides in Sichuan Province — another Bitcoin mining hub — wiped out cryptocurrency miners in the region, also resulting in large drops of BTC hash rates. 

Source:forkast.news