How I Sent the Brexit Deal into Space Using Bitcoin in 6 Easy Steps
This week in the British parliament has been the most shocking I have ever witnessed. For example, the spectacle of watching Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, spend 10 minutes giving a rousing speech to persuade people to back an extension to Article 50, and then he voted against it! There are other examples too numerous to mention. So what’s Brexit doing on a blog that usually covers topics like Bitcoin?
Sending Politicians a Message…
To send politicians a message I decided this weekend to literally send them Theresa May’s Brexit deal. But instead of sending it by post or by email I’ve sent it to them by satellite by which I mean I’ve beamed it into space.
…using Satellite & Blockchain Tech
To do this, I used a satellite service from blockchain technology company Blockstream. In 2017, Blockstream launched a service that beams the Bitcoin blockchain down from satellites covering North and South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. This could, for example, be used as a backup link for Bitcoin businesses in case the internet goes down. In January, Blockstream released an API that added the ability to broadcast messages using the satellite service and the “testnet” version of the experimental Lightning payment network for Bitcoin. The service moved to mainnet recently, meaning it is no longer free to use.
The Blockstream Satellite network broadcasts the Bitcoin blockchain around the world 24/7 for free, protecting against network interruptions and providing anyone in the world with the opportunity to use Bitcoin.
By eliminating cost barriers, people can now receive blocks at no cost, which allows more people to utilize Bitcoin and participate in the Bitcoin network.
Blockstream Satellite provides an alternative method for receiving the Bitcoin blockchain that is not affected by connection failure. So your Bitcoin money can be sent without an internet connection.
6 Steps to Sending the Deal to Space
1. Download the Text & Convert to .txt
I found the full version of Theresa May’s Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and then converted it to .txt format. The result is the Brexit deal in text format.
2. Split it into 10kb chunks
I then used this guide to spliting files to split the 820 KB Brexit agreement into 82 10KB .txt files. The results are here.
3. Have your Bitcoin wallet ready with funds
To buy Bitcoin we recommend Binance for UK citizens.
4. Send the first transaction
Select the First Brexit Deal File:
Bid the Price:
At the time of writing, there hadn’t been anything sent through the satellite system for over a day, and so the minimum bid of 50 mSat/byte is enough to bid to successfully transfer the file. Also add a further 10 mSat/byte for the Lightning Network fees for a total of 60 mSat/byte. For the 10KB file this translates to 0.00000604800 BTC. There are 82 10 KB files that make up the total 820KB file of the Brexit agreement. This equates to a total cost of 0.000495936 BTC or…
…£ 1.49 to send the whole 699 page Brexit deal to outer space!
Don´t forget to click “Submit” and then “Upload”.
Save Transmission ID & Authentication Code
Pay via the Bitcoin Lightning Network
To pay each invoice I followed this excellent guide to paying with the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
5. Repeat
I repeated the process 82 times 🙂
6. Verifying the Transmission
Here is a list of the transaction IDs in which the withdrawal agreement was sent:
| Number | File Code | Transmission ID |
| 1 | AA | 4c554339-db8c-4cee-896a-a0ad1a29c15a |
| 2 | AB | 89d1ec4c-6de0-49ef-ae02-86dabc81229c |
| 3 | AC | 3b94239b-af49-4e37-90d6-c671e4d08390 |
| 4 | AD | a9e323d3-45bf-4288-b435-aec601093d58 |
| 5 | AE | e73a6bc3-a111-48f1-851f-864a1262c68f |
| 6 | AF | 182a93c7-0058-4fa7-8042-987890d48c16 |
| 7 | AG | c4c200a6-e2db-48ad-8234-1ba53a757d62 |
| 8 | AH | fc728521-9522-4ac5-adc2-ff3741ddf825 |
| 9 | AI | 45081461-b312-4dda-8454-f5f8fed867ad |
| 10 | AJ | 255327c9-aa4a-4df9-a717-00a3fa637c69 |
| 11 | AK | 9f51bffe-0244-40c7-93b3-8babdf532164 |
| 12 | AL | c2978a11-7ddf-494c-bda9-cb925c915969 |
| 13 | AM | 369f5be4-b35f-4ac5-86a9-b1f5bbcaead6 |
| 14 | AN | 4476597e-95f5-41fb-871d-01b3b0f577d0 |
| 15 | AO | 23b2e0be-23e4-4526-9227-50a11da5c1db |
| 16 | AP | 1c0f16cb-c1c9-4a95-aa80-36d022343f9f |
| 17 | AQ | 444b7f5e-f755-47f4-8a44-43267897e1c1 |
| 18 | AR | 387b9221-fa15-4dfb-aa3e-b54a73e2700c |
| 19 | AS | 1835cf45-932e-4cd5-a913-607bf0e7a84d |
| 20 | AT | ddd42b8f-8470-4d46-ae5d-7c62e4b8da56 |
| 21 | AU | 2b2fcb5a-f8d1-4dc2-af52-8c69ba931359 |
| 22 | AV | b4613ec4-79b6-40bc-948c-0a08ac3e825b |
| 23 | AW | 6fb7175e-2855-4a81-9791-14ad0a984e07 |
| 24 | AX | 3d34b616-b6df-4a2a-87b7-28574e6acc52 |
| 25 | AY | 695da8e5-d229-48ec-a829-274c963f639b |
| 26 | AZ | 343bb377-1d59-4aab-8852-f606c1c26609 |
| 27 | BA | a3e9669c-ae44-405c-8f69-d48854a4298c |
| 28 | BB | f7f94b0e-58c9-47b6-9826-9fa8a2acab8e |
| 29 | BC | 6da5dd3d-7c8d-4555-afe1-23fd90a31787 |
| 30 | BD | f825e017-f64e-491e-8907-31c26bf99266 |
| 31 | BE | dbdcd2b3-2840-4aaf-b2c3-33b2e7373011 |
| 32 | BF | 5f2dd629-7da8-466d-b0b8-3706a6e18d2b |
| 33 | BG | fba2ee43-52ac-4178-ad29-292fd7d90cda |
| 34 | BH | b4105d72-b42d-457c-9e5e-e6e72a0267b7 |
| 35 | BI | d13b77c7-34ea-4d32-a9ed-54b62e9b872e |
| 36 | BJ | b08920ec-22ba-4bb4-8396-104e199f980c |
| 37 | BK | a5252090-69e8-42cd-9b9b-12149d96faf0 |
| 38 | BL | 608a091b-9976-48ca-a022-18db3e1b0510 |
| 39 | BM | 466850ba-27fe-41be-9939-cbb215af07f2 |
| 40 | BN | 63d42a95-f996-425c-9c7e-bc7a56b0bfef |
| 41 | BO | 4262232b-4a99-4814-8238-b2cc5be761ec |
| 42 | BP | e5ae8455-7955-4156-a050-44c09f027f93 |
| 43 | BQ | 9ece52c1-8509-4bb4-825f-b401fde62944 |
| 44 | BR | c205397e-b6d2-4e24-aa91-c64008bbf0f0 |
| 45 | BS | 3853c58c-6932-4be9-b018-fd27cb14425b |
| 46 | BT | 6b27c843-4ab4-40b9-9a38-51db59d5516a |
| 47 | BU | 8b929c5c-b7a4-4f0f-8033-f4551bc31297 |
| 48 | BV | ea94d63c-1460-4411-8a92-bdf8f5789ab8 |
| 49 | BW | e48ad70b-0bf8-41e4-a80c-cb3014dc3bde |
| 50 | BX | e014b440-fcb3-402c-9d54-170d04e1830a |
| 51 | BY | b7623750-7a17-4526-ba62-d899787dbe40 |
| 52 | BZ | f4384150-c806-435b-a5c6-239dcf6e8af2 |
| 53 | CA | 869282e0-dfb1-454e-957c-b461d769e657 |
| 54 | CB | 2b07fc0a-d537-4684-984d-c67c91ae086c |
| 55 | CC | 6ffcf887-3891-4ccf-af77-71c61478008e |
| 56 | CD | b62c9804-83cf-4d6c-a697-fa9a5d793e31 |
| 57 | CE | ab0905ea-0301-43ea-93a6-ab252af6a960 |
| 58 | CF | 5c3e2749-e601-42c0-9551-f0822d589918 |
| 59 | CG | 8a172ffc-0871-48e0-bbdc-cd9a1a51547a |
| 60 | CH | d339a701-ec90-448c-957c-46247b798286 |
| 61 | CI | 69ce9f3c-3c51-4ddb-acb2-479c451ba97b |
| 62 | CJ | 80a38fbf-70ef-4d86-9239-97f3ecabd809 |
| 63 | CK | 7128b771-02f5-49b6-aa13-fb53f741847f |
| 64 | CL | a16fe103-bd4e-49fb-8fb4-522f65378a1b |
| 65 | CM | d9b99309-bca7-4010-9dc8-62810d1d7aa3 |
| 66 | CN | 14f84011-435c-4ec1-b611-6d1ebc34acde |
| 67 | CO | 50f79852-6f09-43e4-ae9f-fadb57a7817b |
| 68 | CP | e39f452c-f786-4dce-90c7-6482f2caf527 |
| 69 | CQ | 4e0a06ec-5cbb-4d12-b32d-3403aa420207 |
| 70 | CR | 99b41422-06e2-4a81-b089-67a9980f2eaf |
| 71 | CS | 00430b73-64b1-419e-a15d-b4f7ace78fd2 |
| 72 | CT | cf30efb4-7b00-4388-b6c4-9e913e3b8848 |
| 73 | CU | f7f8075d-521e-48c4-951f-e303543b763b |
| 74 | CV | 26cba8b8-236d-4551-8e20-73b8f22c3d75 |
| 75 | CW | ee21a51c-ab64-4a4e-a575-8dc3bae43ce2 |
| 76 | CX | 1d3baef8-4507-43a3-adb9-5b31290dab5c |
| 77 | CY | dba5bf76-fc83-4604-922c-f00e8456a741 |
| 78 | CZ | a2f801d9-7212-4409-9f8c-0491516f3d84 |
| 79 | DA | 866f1aa2-6249-46a7-a8a6-31c3563c0a0b |
| 80 | DB | 0a6aae05-595e-48eb-9929-c41bd2ec108d |
| 81 | DC | de108ee2-bd99-4fcc-be28-8c10e10e53af |
| 82 | DD | 40121635-18ea-45fc-8547-477269fcc199 |
How to recieve the transmission
To recieve the transmission you will need a setup like this:
For a full guide on how to recieve the messages embedded in the Bitcoin blockchain see this excellent guide.
Normally I write about buying Ripple or articles about CEX.io crypto exchange but this week I’m putting my crypto knowledge to good use by hopefully sending politicians a message: that the Brexit deal they promised to deliver will forever be encoded in the Bitcoin blockchain, that it will hurtle through space forever, and it is also right in front of them being beamed from above every day.
As far as I know this is a world first. Documents have been sent on the Bitcoin testnet before but never on the Bitcoin mainnet. As if we weren’t sick enough of Brexit already, it will now beam through everyone for as long as the Blockstream Satellite network is live.