SpaceComputer, a startup that plans to use satellites to run secure computing for blockchains, has raised $10 million in a seed round, according to an announcement shared exclusively with The Defiant. The firm said the funds will be used to build an orbital network that can process blockchain operations securely from space.
The seed round was co-led by Maven11 and Lattice, with participation from Superscrypt, the Arbitrum Foundation, Nascent, Offchain Labs, Hashkey, and Chorus One, among others. Individual investors include Marc Weinstein, Jason Yanowitz, and Ameen Soleimani. This raise follows a pre-seed round led by Primitive Ventures earlier this year, the announcement notes.
The funding will be used to build and launch SpaceComputer’s first satellites, as well as the secure computing hardware they carry. These satellites, called SpaceTEE units, will run secure blockchain and cryptography tasks from space, according to the press release.
The funding will also go toward building network software, setting up how the satellites work together, and offering new services like private computing and secure record-keeping.
The investment highlights growing interest in using novel approaches, like space technology, to advance blockchain infrastructure. By moving beyond traditional satellites, blockchain operations could become harder to mess with on Earth.
“The SpaceComputer project represents an optimistic, yet pragmatic cypherpunk ambition,” said co-founder Daniel Bar. “Space is open for business and we are rapidly entering an era where more and more applications include space based computation and communication layers.”
Bar added that the “importance and opportunity” of space for decentralized technologies is “undeniable.”
Major financial institutions have also explored the potential of satellites for secure transactions. A few years ago, JPMorgan’s digital asset arm tested what it called the “world’s first bank-led tokenized value transfer in space.” The banking giant used a blockchain network deployed on low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to execute smart-contract transactions.
These developments come as scientists grow extremely concerned with the expanding amount of space debris. In 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned in a letter to Congress that debris from LEO satellites, like SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, could pose a danger to people on the ground during reentry disposal.
A separate 2022 study claimed that Elon Musk’s swarm of satellites is obstructing astronomers’ telescope views.
SpaceComputer is known predominantly for testing satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and releasing tools for developers to access computing from space.
The company is currently working with researchers at the Technical University of Munich, Cornell Tech, and U.C. Santa Barbara to explore off-Earth computing for blockchain applications.