Blockstream Satellite copy guide
Broadcasting the Bitcoin blockchain from space, no internet required
- Docs record Satellite transferred to the mining spinout in 2025. Confirm ownership before commissioning guidelines.
- If the transfer stands, the decision is page retirement, not new standards.
Golden rules
Get these right and most copy takes care of itself.
- Every mention carries the 2025 transfer disclosure: Blockstream built and ran Satellite through 2025; the mining spinout operates it now.
- Past tense for Blockstream's role, never current-product framing, never active growth or availability claims.
- "Blockstream Satellite" in full; bare "Satellite" only after first reference.
- It broadcasts, never streams; and it never speeds up transactions.
Who you're writing for
Meet the reader before touching the rules.
Write for sovereignty-minded node operators: technical, understated register; no consumer onboarding, a documented mistake.
Write for a reader who assumes Satellite is current: that is now wrong, so every mention carries the 2025 transfer disclosure.
Names
The product names and exactly how to write them.
Never imply current-product status: write past-tense and disclose the 2025 transfer to the independent Blockstream Mining company.
Write "Blockstream Satellite" in full, no article: terminology.md bans bare "Satellite"; default to the full name.
Capitalize "Bitcoin Satellite": the modified Bitcoin Core client for satellite data; never "bitcoin satellite."
Don't list Satellite among current products: if a portfolio list includes it, mark it transferred, not a live offering.
Say this, not that
The usage dictionary. When in doubt, search it.
| Topic | Write | Never write | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| The API | Satellite API | satellite messaging · broadcast API | paid Lightning-powered broadcast service |
| The client | Bitcoin Satellite (capitalized) | bitcoin satellite | the modified Bitcoin Core client |
| The product name | Blockstream Satellite (full, capitalized) | bare "Satellite" on first reference | transferred 2025 |
| The verb | broadcasts the Bitcoin blockchain | streams | |
| Cost framing | free to receive; only hardware costs apply | implying a subscription | |
| Speed claims | broadcasts data | fast Bitcoin transactions | Satellite does not process or speed transactions |
| Streaming | broadcasts | streams Bitcoin | banned verb |
| Base Station | Base Station | SelfSat IP22 flat-panel antenna (Ku-band, PoE, no dish) | |
| Coverage claim | "near-global coverage": five beams, four geosynchronous satellites | ||
| LNB | LNB (Low-Noise Block downconverter) | receiver-setup hardware term | |
| Privacy claim | one-way broadcast; operators cannot identify receivers | grounds the privacy claim | |
| Pro Kit | Pro Kit | Novra S400 receiver setup | |
| teleport | teleport, lowercase | ground stations uplinking blockchain data | |
| The tools | blocksatcli · blocksatgui, lowercase code style |
Voice & tone
How the copy sounds, and where the register switches.
Write technical and understated: authoritative, developer-leaning, sovereignty-focused; no consumer simplifications.
Match register to the surface: product page mission-driven, docs precise, blog thought-leadership, social bold.
Keep Blockstream's role in past tense: it built and ran Satellite through 2025; present operation is the mining spinout's.
Title Case headings (H1-H4); Help Center H1s use sentence case.
Name the task in HC procedure titles: e.g. "Align a satellite antenna."
Positioning
What to lead with, what to always pair, what never to claim.
These points are an amalgamation of what has been learned so far, from product docs, launches, and reviewer feedback. They are not definitive or authoritative positioning from anyone. Product marketing still needs to clearly define positioning for this product, which will happen in a follow-up.
Never imply active growth or availability: Satellite is in maintenance mode under the mining spinout; don't cite delisted kits.
Frame as Blockstream's past infrastructure: it built Bitcoin's physical broadcast layer through 2025, not a current product.
Lead with "Bitcoin without internet": sovereignty and censorship resistance; omitting that angle is a documented mistake.
Tie to Bitcoin resilience and decentralization, never a standalone product feature.
Key messages: full node via satellite alone; near-global coverage; censorship resistance; network resilience; free to receive.
Tagline, if promoted at all: "Broadcasting the Bitcoin blockchain from space." A PM call given the 2025 transfer.
Claims
What a page or post may cite. Confirm, correct, or kill each row; an unconfirmed claim does not ship.
| Claim | As of | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Blockstream built and operated the Bitcoin satellite broadcast layer through 2025 | 2025 transfer | approved |
| Five beams, four geosynchronous satellites | historical; web sources decayed | confirm or kill |
| Free to receive; only hardware costs apply | status under the spinout unknown | confirm or kill |
Open questions
Unresolved tensions for review. Don't resolve these in copy; flag them.
- Active-vs-archived conflict: products-overview.md lists Satellite as a live product; terminology.md, governance.md, identity.md, business-context.md say transferred 2025, "no longer a Blockstream product."
- Bare-"Satellite" rule conflict: terminology.md bans it flatly; products-satellite.md allows it after first reference. Never reconciled.
- Stale downstream pages: personas-consumer.md lists Satellite as a consumer-persona product; voice-quick-reference.md keeps an active Satellite block; neither notes the transfer.
- No Satellite entry in product-brands.md (no visual/brand spec) and no boilerplate in boilerplates.md.
- Web decay: coverage map 404s, satellite.blockstream.com refuses connection, no kits in Store (Mar 2026); hardware pricing is 2020-2021 vintage. Re-verify before citing.
- Imposters/legacy channels: Telegram blockstream_satellite_feed posts scam links; X @BlksSatellite inactive (social-channels.md lines 147, 185).
Notepad
Scribble anything: loose thoughts, questions, things that don't fit a pin or a highlight. Saves automatically with the review feedback.