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Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch a dogecoin funded satellite to the moon

Dogecoin (which started as a joke btw) sees a new frontier after Elon Musk accepts it as official payment.

SpaceX plans to launch its satellite, named ‘DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon’ to the moon in the first quarter of next year.

The Geometric Energy Corporation, which is funding the satellite mission, has said it is the first-ever commercial lunar vehicle paid entirely with Dogecoin. Reality is a construct, time is meaningless, and Elon Musk is making bank off a 2012 meme-currency.

Elon Musk Smiling
Image: The Verge

A tweet on Monday by Musk confirmed that SpaceX would be going ahead with payments from Dogecoin, saying, “SpaceX launching satellite Doge-1 to the moon next year – Mission paid for in Doge – 1st crypto in space – 1st meme in space.”

The mission was officially announced on Sunday with SpaceX Vice President stating: “This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce.” 

Elon Musk brought Dogecoin to worldwide attention after numerous tweets in April, and an incredibly polarizing SNL episode.

Crypto data tracker, CoinGecko.com shows that dogecoin has jumped more than 800 per cent over the last month, making it now the fourth-largest digital currency, with a market capitalisation of $73 billion.

Technobabble aside, an 800 per cent jump in value is pretty unprecedented.

Tesla, founded by Musk, had previously released a statement saying it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and would slowly start to accept it as a payment for the company’s electric cars.

This was a huge step into the beginning of bitcoin being accepted as a mainstream form of currency and sent bitcoin into a record high of nearly $62,000.