Have you always been curious about how messages can be imprinted on the blockchain, and what it can be used for, and how it can be easily done?
It is now possible for anyone to do it for a relatively small sum of money (0.1BTC, around $23 at current rates.) In return, a message not to exceed 60 letters or 20 characters in some languages will live on forever in the blockchain. This makes use of the coinbase feature of blocks that are published, with Satoshi’s original coinbase containing an excerpt from the Financial Times.
BTCChina has done this to celebrate its fourth anniversary in business, and, according to them, they’re aware that the service they have dubbed “Forever” is “not a revolutionary idea.” CEO Bobby Lee said:
We wanted to introduce this novel aspect of the bitcoin blockchain in a fun and non-technical way, so that everyone can memorialize their thoughts, make a wish, or even send a message into the future, to their great-great-grandchildren. Most people don’t have the knowledge or resources to write into the blockchain directly, so we feel this is a great way to engage the community, to commemorate our anniversary, and to show our commitment to bitcoin.
It seems the price will go up after the initial 30-day period, but there are of course other ways to get messages onto the blockchain, and, more to the point, there are other ways to immortalize thoughts. If the company sells out of the slots every day, they will be making roughly 14.4 BTC per day, or more than $3,000.
Perhaps if this feature becomes popular enough, something like the Blockstream Sidechains project will introduce a means for regular Bitcoiners to register messages onto the blockchain with little overhead. In the meantime, this is,, as Lee says, a “fun, non-technical” way of getting your message imprinted on the immutable ledger.
P. H. Madore has written for CCN since 2014. Please send breaking news tips or requests for an investigation to [email protected]. He lives in Maine, USA. A single father of four young children, he does not discourage financial donations, provided they do not come with strings attached.
