New Research Proposes Proof-of-Transit Timestamping to Enable Bitcoin Use Between Earth and Mars

A recent paper, Bitcoin as an Interplanetary Monetary Standard with Proof-of-Transit Timestamping (PoTT), explores how Bitcoin might be used between Earth and Mars given major constraints like latency and intermittent connection.

The study proposes new primitives like Proof-of-Transit Timestamping (PoTT) that could help maintain cryptographic, tamper-evident audit trails for Bitcoin data over high-delay links.

It suggests using Delay/Disruption-Tolerant Networking (DTN), optical LEO mesh constellations, Lightning Network channels with “planetary watchtowers,” federated sidechains, or blind-merge-mined commit chains for local settlement.

Challenges:

Light-time delays: Between Earth and Mars the communication delay is up to ~20+ light-minutes one way, which makes real-time block synchronization impractical.

Block propagation & forks: If Mars mines a block but it arrives late on Earth, there could be conflicts / forks. These issues need architectural fixes.

Infrastructure:

It requires physical and network infrastructure on Mars (nodes, watchtowers, reliable communications).

Transaction Time:

Bitcoin Lightning Network transfers could reach Mars in 3 to 22 minutes.

Blackout Periods: Routing around the sun with relay satellites might resolve the two-week blackout periods that occur every 26 months.

Existing Technology: The concept builds on previous work, including Blockstream's satellite connection of Bitcoin in 2018 and the first Bitcoin transaction from the International Space Station in 2020.

Potential for Interplanetary Currency: Advocates argue for Bitcoin as an open, neutral monetary base for a multi-planet civilization. Elon Musk has also expressed the need for a standard money for Earth-Mars transactions.

Prerequisites: A human or AI would need to be on Mars to facilitate transactions and accept Bitcoin.

Why It Matters:

This research isn’t sci-fi; it’s thinking ahead to interplanetary settlement and how economic systems might work off Earth.

PoTT allows preserving Bitcoin’s consensus and monetary base while enabling local (Mars) activity under certain pegged / federated frameworks.

It may open up thought leadership & investment in deep space communications, mesh networks, and latency-tolerant blockchain protocols.

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