The Peregrine 1 spacecraft lifted off early Monday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying 20 payloads, including one called the “Bitcoin Genesis Board.”
This also includes a private key engraved on a 43-gram physical coin with a custom public address – 1MoonBTCixFH3XTrWRCbMpK23o74nQrA1Q – presented as “the first financial asset ever sent to the moon.”
In a partnership between derivatives exchange BitMEX, robotics company Astrobotic Technology, Bitcoin Magazine, and Oxcart Assembly, a Bitcoin wallet is loaded with one bitcoin (BTC).
Bitcoin can be seen rising in Monday trading at just over $45,000 as of 8:30 a.m. ET.
Bitcoin Genesis Plate magazine includes a copy of the Genesis Block, the first Bitcoin block ever mined, in just over 15 years.
Read more: Bitcoin’s “inception” transaction block was created 15 years ago
After a years-long development process, the Vulcan rocket lifted off at approximately 2:18 a.m. ET, carrying international payloads from seven countries in what is expected to be the first commercial landing on the moon.
The 7-week cruise phase puts the spacecraft on track to land on the lunar surface on Friday, February 23.
The mission is not the first to attempt a commercial landing on the moon. In April 2019, the Israeli Beresheet spacecraft, developed by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, crashed while attempting to land.
Last year, social intelligence company LunarCrush announced that it would send a treasure chest of 62 bitcoins to the moon on a similar mission by the end of 2023, however, as of December, no launch date has been set.
The Peregrine 1 shipment is a symbol of Bitcoiner aspirations to “create a monetary system for the space economy,” according to Stefan Lutz, CEO at BitMEX.
“Bitcoin on the Moon is a time capsule that captures one of humanity’s most important innovations and technological advances,” he said in a statement.
“BitMEX invites the cryptocurrency community and future generations to interact with physical currency, whether on Earth or in space, enabling individuals to send personal messages and their own satoshis to the moon,” the company said.
It’s a fun gimmick, but in the absence of a full Bitcoin node on the moon and connected to the Internet, such interaction is still technically an terrestrial affair.
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