Neuromorphic Computers Could Bring Blockchain to Mars

Neuromorphic computers are designed to solve data-intensive problems using real-time pattern recognition. Essentially, they're built to mimic the human brain.

There are currently no ATMs on Mars. In fact, the red planet has no infrastructure to support financial transactions. This poses a significant challenge for future colonists who want to order pizza using Bitcoin ( BTC ) or trade apes with fellow non-fungible token (NFT) enthusiasts on Earth.

The solution to this problem may have arrived in the form of recent research in the field of neuromorphic computing.

Traditional extraterrestrial communication is a complex, energy-intensive process that incurs minutes-long delays under the best of circumstances. As future colonists travel to Mars, their ship’s computers will quickly lose the ability to communicate with Earthbound computers and servers in real time.

Once the colonists reach Mars, their communication systems will experience delays of up to approximately 22 minutes, depending on the planet’s position relative to Earth at the time, in both sending and receiving data.

While 44 minutes might not sound like that big of a deal, there are also the issues of signal degradation, radiation interference, and data corruption to deal with.

Neuromorphic computing

Back on Earth, the technology world runs on cloud computing. Nearly every networked machine, from the billions of iPhones in use to the most powerful supercomputers, utilizes some form of remote data processing or compute.

Neuromorphic computers are designed to solve data-intensive problems using real-time pattern recognition. Essentially, they’re built to mimic the human brain. They use a system of neurons that process data in memory rather than with a traditional CPU, making them extremely low-latency devices.

Related: New research shows how brain-like computers could revolutionize blockchain and AI

This makes neuromorphic computer chips a perfect fit for situations where real-time data analysis has to happen at the edge — meaning, using the hardware on the device itself — in places such as deep-sea research facilities, outer space, and other planets.

Unlocking insurance as a liquid asset class: X Spaces recap with Nayms

Long seen as an illiquid asset, insurance is being transformed by blockchain. A blockchain-based platform created a reinsurance marketplace to encourage accessibility and transparency.

Blockchain, as a versatile technology, is increasingly deployed in the insurance space. In fact, the global blockchain insurance industry is expected to grow to a size of $32.9 billion by 2031.

“The capital markets, especially the digital markets, now have access to the very uncorrelated asset class of insurance. They’ve got tokenized treasury bills, money market funds and private credit,” said Dan Roberts, co-founder and CEO of Nayms, when discussing blockchain-based insurance and his project during a recent Cointelegraph X Spaces. “The space has tokenized reinsurance to back as a very stable yielding product to put that capital to work. Bull market or bear market, it’s a very mature asset class that’s available now.”

✈️ Ever had a flight canceled and spent days battling the airline for a refund? It’s a nightmare! What if you had blockchain insurance instead? pic.twitter.com/WzMOmf9ro9

Unfortunately, one of the most promising types of neuromorphic computer chips, called self-compliant chips, uses materials that can be unpredictable from one device to the next. Despite their great promise, this flaw meant that sometimes these particular chips would dump their data unpredictably.

Self-compliant neuromorphic computer chip architecture. Source: Kim et al., 2024.

A team of researchers in South Korea recently had a breakthrough in the development of these chips and, according to their research, have overcome this limitation. With further development, their neuromorphic computing chip architecture could lay the foundations for a revolution in edge computing.

Blockchain on Mars

Conducting a blockchain transaction on Earth is a relatively simple process for end-users, but the technology underpinning it, decentralized computing, requires multiple nodes working in concert. Most modern computers are capable of serving as a node and, in some cases, cryptocurrencies can still be mined using personal computers.

However, if all the remote infrastructure is stripped away — including Earthbound energy sources — it would quickly become impossible to mine cryptocurrency or transact on the blockchain. Recreating this infrastructure on Mars, as it exists on Earth in 2024, could potentially take decades or longer.

According to Elon Musk, humans will arrive on Mars long before that period. And, while trading cryptocurrency might not be their first priority, they’ll eventually need to engage in trusted transactions with Earth.

Neuromorphic computers are purpose-built for such situations. Working in parallel with traditional computers, they could enable Martian colonists to conduct edge processing that would normally require real-time connectivity to remote resources and advanced infrastructure.

Theoretically, simple computing devices with self-compliant neuromorphic processing chips could provide real-time automation and data processing for a scalable blockchain network on Mars. This would make it possible for colonists to bring their Earth-based blockchains