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Having that bitcoin nodes are all over the world. Is it possible to broadcast a transaction sending to 20 different addresses with a piece of the message embedded into each address?

The goal is to make use of the blockchain unconfirmed transaction mempool to relay this message to the recipient.

The fee would be set to 1 satoshi per byte. We know it will never confirm, but thats not the goal of it.

What are some drawbacks to this?

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  • It might confirm. There is nothing to exclude zero-fee transactions.
    – Hannah Vernon
    Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 22:29
  • Thats the thing. I don't care if it confirms or not. Its just to use it as a way to notify another user that might be monitoring one of the addresses to receive a message only. Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 23:06

2 Answers 2

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This is possible, but there is always a chance your tx will confirm.

As a drawback, the blockchain is public, so the entire world will be able to view your message, assuming they know what to look for. You can encrypt and fragment your message, but using the blockchain to transmit it seems inefficient compared to other available options.

What is the advantage to using the blockchain, as opposed to another channel of communication?

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  • Obfuscation, perhaps? I'm not saying that would be worthwhile, just it sounds likely. Also, the network propogates unconfirmed transactions fairly quickly.
    – Hannah Vernon
    Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 23:17
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This is possible, but I do not think, that it can be named "Use bitcoin blockchain". In fact you use not a blockchain, but current infrastructure of relay nodes, which relay your data to everywhere for free.

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