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Telecom giants and states control who gets access and what they are allowed to view, with 37% of the world, billions of humans, offline due to expense, geography, or politics. The internet used to be an open wonder of millions of nodes communicating together, is now a network owned by technology goliaths like X, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon.
These centralized control points have diminished the web's early promise: a space no one could own, control, or shut off.
I remembered when I first started to use the internet, it felt like an endless open space.
For the time being, it always feels like I'm walking through a series of walled gardens, each with their own rules and restrictions.
It's so infuriating to notice how much influence a few companies have over our online lives and quite frankly, it makes me wonder how much of the soul of the internet we've lost along the way again and again.
Not until I come across Spacecoin.
I mean I was into Creditcoin and so that's how I know their very first dApp.
What is Spacecoin you ask?
Spacecoin is a DEPIN which stand for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network. It's a project which caught attention of me and other people.
And their mission is to deliver a decentralized, censored-free internet broadcast from space, breaking the "digital divide" and making the internet a right, not a privilege, for the 37% left behind.
Gluwa's founder, Tae Oh, also Spacecoin's founder, calls it "the first step toward universal internet access".
The Unhealthy State of Today's Internet
The decentralized roots of the internet no different than the domain name system (DNS) behind more than 1 billion websites and apps same as WordPress behind 27% of them still intact. But increasingly, our digital lives are locked in walled gardens.
Google and Apple dominate smartphones, from operating systems to app stores.
Facebook dominates messaging globally, and in China, WeChat's one app integrates shopping, communication, and more for over 90% of city phone users.
These integrated silos accumulate money and information, 95% of the value of the app economy residing in only 10 successful nations. Governments then centralize this power, compelling technology companies to censor or relinquish private data.
The outcome? Competition is lost, censorship progresses rapidly, and billions are left behind.
The problem is, Centralized systems are convenient and fast at impossible prices: telecos and governments can censor or shut off access at whim. In China or Brazil, millions have platforms like X removed instantly.
Spacecoin's had enough.
They're building an unstoppable network with nanosatellites to go around expensive ground infrastructure such as fiber optic cables and cell towers.
They're providing internet access for $1-2 per month in developing markets cheaper than a cup of coffee. They're making satellites a lifeline where telecoms are not available, going over mountains, oceans, and borders.
The Tech Powering Spacecoin's Vision
Spacecoin combines space tech and blockchain technology, and they're demonstrating it. They're constructing their foundation on the 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), which enables satellites to connect to your phone effortlessly so no towers needed. It accommodates the latest Samsung and Apple phones and offers speedy, secure service as simple as texting.
Therefore, why wait for cables when you can have connectivity from space like takeout rather than cooking?
It's a miracle for disaster and rural areas and is there in seconds.
I was not convinced when I first came across Spacecoin.
A decentralized internet broadcast from space sounds like a too-good-to-be-true thing something I'd have read out of a science fiction book that I'd read on a rainy afternoon. But the more I've listened to their technology and watched them develop, I have come to believe.
It is exciting to see a project that is not only discussing decentralization but is putting their hands on it and doing it.
With Creditcoin, a blockchain made for trust and scalability and one that I adore and supported and yap about all day on my social media, Spacecoin makes payments, governance, and resources possible through open-source smart contracts.
In simple terms, Users can make crypto payments between chains, particularly in new regions, and the system is still seamless and open.
The proof is in the progress: CTC-0 blasted off on Dec. 21, 2024, from Vandenberg Space Force Base, and they're already talking to it, checking for messaging capability with bigger trials on the way in 2025.
CTC-1, the bigger satellite with rapid service, arrives next year as part of a road map with further launches, ground stations, and public input through blockchain. Full coverage of the entire world is still years away, but their labor is relentless.
Benefits of a Decentralized Internet
What’s the gain you ask?
There’s plenty.
There's the use of satellites and blockchain technology which eliminates the need for expensive ground based plans. More importantly, it provides a sense of security against control as well. It allows spending shields free speech and the infomation teetering on access which is essential for censored bloggers. The lack of central control allows the internet to be used freely. It gives way to more innovation and usage as opposed to corporate and state control. It’s true I have witnessed the chokehold centralized control can fuel creativity, keeping citizens on the sideline.
My overseas friends have told me stories about some sites being completely blocked and others slowed down to a crawl which is unimaginable to me. Undoubtedly Spacecoin's plan can help make a huge difference in a world where the internet feels like a mirage, and as always, there are issues that come with this type of technology on revolution always having storms to weather.
I can only hope that they'll be able to make it happen. Spacecoin's blockchain governance is a reflection of the 2016 transfer of DNS to ICANN, putting power in the hands of the community, not a board room. Its satellites impose a cosmic net neutrality, giving all data equal regard without Earth-bound gatekeepers. Challenges Ahead It's not an ideal rise. Satellites can ignore borders, but politicians can't.
Spacecoin's global footprint could generate regulatory battles or geopolitical strife. Their open-source strategy can minimize tension, but politics is a wild card. From a technology perspective, building a satellite constellation is a challenge. Bugs, delays, and growing to billions of users could bring progress to a standstill. Performance and scalability issues, inherent to cryptonetworks, are lurking as they scale out their armada of nanosatellites and optimize 5GNTN.
One bad turn may keep them behind, though, their rapid iteration and growing devbase give hope. Decentralized networks, if cared for, can expand exponentially and Spacecoin's betting on it.
A New Era of Connectivity
Spacecoin is the "Web 3" dream: people-owned networks to bring down the centralized giants. They're employing nanosatellites, 5GNTN, and blockchain to bring censorship, cost, and access dead on. It's not technology, it's people, from that hopeful boy in the backwoods to you and me. There are going to be challenges still, but the payoff? All those people online, no strings attached, could redefine connectedness.
With new satellites and testing on the horizon, Spacecoin is moving quickly toward a future where the internet is returned to the people.
Their vision speaks to me because I still believe the internet can be a good thing, a tool to lift us up, not hold us back. A decentralized, open internet might spark creativity and connection on a scale we've barely imagined.
I'm cheering for Spacecoin, not as a pleasant notion, but as a vision of what the internet could be once more.
What about you?
Do you think they can do it?
Want to Know More About Spacecoin?
You can read more of their roadmap here: https://medium.com/@_spacecoin/spacecoin-in-2025-from-one-satellite-to-a-global-internet-revolution-c582f7185f80
Or visit their Blog: https://spacecoin.org/
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