Have you ever lived in a situation where downloading the entire Bitcoin blockchain from the Internet, and keeping up with blocks, would be cost-prohibitive in terms of bandwidth? It is not a rare situation. Not a corner case. I think that the worldwide majority of people are probably in that situation.
Satellite TV dishes are ubiquitous. Surprising and disturbing, but true. They can be repurposed for this, with a few parts that fit into a poverty-level budget. Now, at least, you can have the BYOB security of consensus-validating the blockchain yourself. To make transactions, use your mobile data connection that has kbps speed, and costs money you can’t afford billed by the kilobyte. Although it is not ideal from a decentralization viewpoint, it gets your foot in the door.
Still makes no sense?
You would still have to download the entire blockchain if you wanted it as the transmission is only for new blocks.
That was in version 1. In version 2, they added the ability to obtain the whole blockchain from the satellite. Your information is more than two years out of date.
Adam Back, Chris Cook
May 4, 2020
We are pleased to announce Blockstream Satellite 2.0 is now live, bringing a standards-based transmission protocol, more bandwidth, additional coverage areas, and the ability to sync a Bitcoin full node all the way from the genesis block up to today.
Although I don’t expect everyone to know about these obscure details, it is usually a good idea to look them up before opining. Especially since I made a positive statement that you can download the entire blockchain from Blockstream Satellite. If I said so, there is usually a reason. I sometimes err; but before contradicting me, think twice.
[wrong arguments based on outdated information]
Yes, it makes no sense. As evidenced by the fact nobody is using it. There is no market for it because it's poorly conceived.
Does it change your opinion that the limitations you described were
version 1 limitations, removed in version 2? Technological developments often work that way, you know.
As for “nobody is using it”: Source of information on usage stats, please.