Crypto in space? Some see blockchain’s potential in the off-planet economy

“We got the best and most ‘Aha, I see’ reaction from crypto investors,” said Crawford, who co-founded venture capital firm SpaceFund in 2018. “I always like to say, you know, it’s the same kind of crazy. It’s the same kind of innovative, what’s next, futuristic, how do we change the world in a positive way kind of attitude.”

Many people who are interested in cryptocurrency – and the blockchain technology behind this digital money – are also interested in space. And there is an increasing overlap between the two sectors.

Blockchain technologies have been placed on satellites and in the International Space Station. SpaceX founder Elon Musk promised a yet-to-launch mission paid for with the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

And in December 2021 and January 2022, more than 2,000 people pooled their Ethereum cryptocurrency to buy two tickets to space. YouTube star Coby Cotton, with Dude Perfect, got one of those seats and took a 10-minute trip to space and back last year.

There are even bigger plans ahead, despite last year’s drop in cryptocurrency value. The volatile market is prone to wild swings, and it has recently regained some of its lost ground.

“When I started learning more about the technology itself — the blockchain part, not the cryptocurrency part — I started to realize that there are some huge applications for blockchain in the aerospace industry,” Crawford said.

Blockchain, essentially a public ledger that records transactions, could streamline international regulations that burden space companies. It can help spacecraft to autonomously refuel in space. And it could support an off-planet economy where buying a beer at a hotel in orbit wouldn’t require routing money to and from Earth.

“We’re trying to build a new economy in the space,” Crawford said. “Shouldn’t we use every tool available to make that economy as efficient as possible?”

Blockchain Basics

Cryptocurrency is like digital cash. It could be a cryptocurrency used in space, but perhaps the more exciting potential comes from the blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrency, said Darryll DiPietro, founder of Future Stuff Inc., a technology development company specializing in blockchain, and a general partner in SpaceFund.

“Blockchain is not just for finance,” DiPietro said. “Blockchain’s first and easiest way for people to understand it is finance. But it’s going to be used for almost every technology out there.”

Blockchain ledger is spread over tens of thousands of computers and each transaction is verified by multiple computers before it is completed. This makes blockchain technology virtually impossible to hack because these different computers have to be hacked at the same time.

This is attractive for space work because several countries often work together. And the blockchain can prove that countries do what they say they do.

DiPietro used a lunar lander as an example.

Instead of collecting data from a lunar landing camera that can be manipulated, DiPietro said an independent blockchain computer could be placed on the lander. That computer will notify other space-based computers as various milestones are achieved. For example, it can send alerts when the rocket’s engines fire, when the lunar lander reaches the moon, when the lander collects rocks, etc.

If enough of these other computers receive the same message, this information is confirmed as correct.

“Everything you see in space has to trust the device that’s collecting the information. So how do you build that trust?” DiPietro asked. “With blockchain, you can prove that this mission happened.”

“People are squishy”

Smart contracts can also be useful for space work. These self-executing contracts are built on the blockchain, and they are activated when certain conditions are met.

On Earth, for example, a contract can be activated when a document is complete and ready to be shared. And this could make international sharing of sensitive missile information easier by determining what parts of the contract recipients can see based on their country, Crawford said.

In space, a smart contract can be activated when a spacecraft receives fuel.

“One thing that a lot of people misunderstand, especially if they read a lot of science fiction, is that the future of space is going to be human,” Crawford said. “It certainly isn’t. Humans are squishy and horrible and hard to keep alive in space. Robots are going to be how things are done in space.”

Humans will be in space, but they will not be at the helm of every spacecraft. That’s why robots have to transfer money, contracts and information between each other – instead of calling Earth to have a human initiate a bank transfer.

And if the vision of space hotels and moon colonies becomes a reality, DiPietro said it would be especially tedious to wire money to and from Earth for hospitality businesses. In addition, a lost transfer can mean lost money.

He believes that using the blockchain to exchange funds—whether it’s cryptocurrency or a stablecoin with a value pegged to the U.S. dollar—can help build the technologically challenging, capital-intensive space industry.