Researchers say there’s now a theoretical way to send Bitcoin from Earth to Mars in as little as three minutes using existing technology—though someone, or something, still needs to receive it.
Late last month, tech entrepreneur Jose E. Puente and his colleague Carlos Puente released a white paper introducing Proof-of-Transit Timestamping (PoTT), which Jose told Cointelegraph could be the missing piece to make Bitcoin interplanetary.
The idea is that when a user wants to send Bitcoin to Mars in the future, the transaction could hop through multiple stations—such as ground antennas, satellites, or even a lunar relay. At each stop, the transaction is “stamped” before continuing to its destination.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Puente described PoTT as a “receipt layer” for Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, using optical links from NASA, Elon Musk’s Starlink, or other satellite providers.
“The technology is essentially ready,” he said. “As soon as there’s a stable Earth–Mars link, PoTT can operate on top of it, making Bitcoin the first currency to work seamlessly across planets.”
“By simulating Mars-level delays, we could run a convincing end-to-end demo right now.”
Once operational, Puente said Bitcoin Lightning transfers could reach Mars in as little as three minutes—or take up to 22 minutes in a worst-case scenario.
He also addressed the roughly two-week blackout on Mars that occurs every 26 months, suggesting that transactions could “deliberately route around the Sun using relay satellites” to avoid the interruption.
PoTT works like ordinary Bitcoin timestamping but extends beyond Earth, Puente explained.
“Imagine it’s 2050 and you’re sending money from Earth to a friend on Mars to help pay their rent,” he said. “Because the planets are so far apart, the transaction has to hop through multiple stations along the way.”
“At each stop, that station stamps the message with the time it arrived and the time it left, like a passport getting stamped at every border crossing. By the time the message gets to Mars, you can look at all the stamps and see the exact path it took and when it moved.”
Puente said PoTT could be tested with current technology.
Bitcoin has already reached outer space
The concept builds on earlier milestones, such as Blockstream’s December 2018 project, which connected Bitcoin to five satellites, making space-based transactions possible. Later, in August 2020, SpaceChain completed what it claimed was the first Bitcoin transaction from the International Space Station, proving that Bitcoin can indeed be sent and received beyond Earth.
Of course, for a Bitcoin transaction to take place on Mars, there would need to be a human—or an AI—present, and that hasn’t happened yet. So far, only landers, orbiters, and rovers from NASA and other space agencies have explored the Red Planet.
Someone on Mars would also need to be willing to accept Bitcoin. Last month, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin began accepting cryptocurrencies—including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and stablecoins Tether and USDC—but so far, their missions have only reached beyond the Kármán line, about 100 kilometers from Earth.
Musk also sees the need for a standard currency
SpaceX aims to reach Mars by the end of 2026, with a long-term goal of establishing a self-sustaining city. Like Puente, Elon Musk agrees that a standard form of money is essential for transactions between Earth and Mars. While he has expressed concerns over Bitcoin’s 10-minute block times, Puente noted that the Lightning Network addresses this issue.
“PoTT plus Lightning provide the practicality Musk asked for: local speed with global settlement that works across planets,” Puente said.
After initially dismissing Bitcoin as a viable solution last January, Musk has since acknowledged that interplanetary payments could be feasible using the Lightning Network.
“If we’re serious about building a multi-planet civilization, we need an open and neutral monetary system that isn’t tied to any single company, government, or ground station,” Puente said, arguing that Bitcoin is the ideal currency for interplanetary use.
“That’s why we focused on Bitcoin as the shared standard and designed PoTT as a practical way to move value across vast distances while preserving accountability and individual agency.”
PoTT is designed for all planets
Puente explained that PoTT is planet-agnostic across a star’s habitable zone, meaning the “travel receipts” it generates could work for transactions sent to the Moon or any other planet.
He added that the research focused on Earth and Mars because it provides the “clearest near-term case study.”
