Blockchain transaction tested in space

It is the world’s first bank-led tokenised value transfer in space, executed via smart contracts on a blockchain network, established between satellites orbiting the earth.

The blockchain transaction was executed between two GOMX-4 satellites in the low Earth orbit.

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JP Morgan has successfully tested a blockchain transaction in space using Danish space firm GomSpace’s satellites.

It is the world’s first bank-led tokenised value transfer in space, executed via smart contracts on a blockchain network, established between satellites orbiting the earth, GomSpace said in a release.

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The transaction was executed between two GOMX-4 satellites in the low Earth orbit (LEO), which validated the approach towards a decentralised network where communication with the earth is not necessary.

This breakthrough opens the door to a potential peer-to-peer satellite marketplace in the long term, allowing data transfers between satellites against payment, as private companies prepare to launch their own constellations, the release noted.

“We are proud to have supported J.P. Morgan as they explored this novel use case of a space-based payment infrastructure utilising blockchain technology,” GomSpace CEO Niels Buus, said in a statement.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger that records data in individual blocks which are linked to one another using cryptography, making it very difficult to tamper with the data in one block without altering all the following blocks. The technology can have various applications such as driving cryptocurrency transactions, and was used by Satoshi Nakamoto to create Bitcoin.