Spacecoin: The First Blockchain Project Heading To The Space

To solve the internet access inequalities on planet Earth, the new DePIN project Spacecoin is sending a satellite into space.

CTC-0 voyage on board SpaceX's Bandwagon-2 rocket on December 21 will kickstart the pilot phase of a decentralized physical infrastructure network built to close the "global divide" in access to the internet by offering reliable 5G internet coverage in every corner of the world at affordable prices.

While Spacecoin's Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellite network emulates Elon Musk's Starlink, its decentralized nature is supposed to make it censorship-resistant and eliminate single points of failure.

For now, and until the project is "fully functional" and a mainnet has been launched, governance will be in the hands of the Spacecoin Foundation.

How Does It Work?

Spacecoin is a network of satellites managed by a public blockchain network.

Spacecoin uses CubeSats - a "class of nanosatellites with a form factor of 10cm (3.9in) and a mass no more than 2kg (4.4lb)" - which cost around $5,000 to produce and about $30,000 to launch.

The CubeSats are built on top of the protocol responsible for 5G networks (the 3rd Generation Partnership Project) in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) standard.

Just 511 of these are theoretically enough to fulfill Spacecoin's mission of providing global coverage. The network of LEO satellites is then managed by a blockchain network that tracks the coverage of each satellite. 

Sui Network handles its computing power, and the data it generates is stored by Walrus.

Its financial foundation, provided by L1 RWA-focused Creditcoin, works through the communication between transmitters, which offer data transmission services, and network users or requesters who pay for data requests.

Can Satellite Internet Really Close The Great Divide?

Spacecoin's great mission is to solve the "Great Divide"—inequalities around internet access that mostly affect vulnerable communities in impoverished countries.

Yet, going interstellar doesn't magically solve all the problems on Earth.

The 2024 Facts and Figures Report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) shows that in 2024, 96% of the global population is covered by a broadband network.

Despite almost complete coverage, only 5.5 of the 8 billion in the world are actually online.

"At a high level, the digital divide is the gap between those with Internet access and those without it. But the digital divide is multifaceted and includes many factors," notes the Internet Society.

Factors such as affordability of internet services, quality of coverage, relevance of the internet for users (e.g., if there is content in their languages), access to equipment, and social inequalities mean that while only 328 million people live in areas without internet coverage, a staggering third of the world's population (2.8 billion) doesn't actually use the internet.

Given that coverage isn't the only limitation for Internet access, can Spacecoin achieve its ultimate goal?

Offering an affordable service can help close the great divide since users in developing nations dedicate a much larger share of their incomes to accessing the Internet than users in developed countries.

According to the ITU, "in 2023, mobile Internet costs in Africa were 12 times higher than in Europe—a gap that increased to 14 times in 2024."

Spacecoin's offering of a high-quality 5G network is also relevant for reducing inequality, as 5G covers only 4% of the population in low-income countries.

While expanding coverage, lowering prices, and the promise of quality contribute to Spacecoin's mission, providing everybody on Earth with access to the internet is more of a political struggle than a technical battle.