Bitcoin Mining Tycoon Commands Private Mission to Fly By Mars with SpaceX

Chun Wang, co-founder of Chinese Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, has become the first private individual to command a crewed mission to Mars. The entrepreneur, who made his fortune in the early days of Bitcoin, has purchased seats on two upcoming SpaceX Starship missions that will fly by the Red Planet and return to Earth.

The trips, which are expected to take at least two years, will be part of a wider effort to push back against government-led space exploration. Wang believes that private funding is necessary to keep Mars on the agenda for human exploration. 'I have little confidence that humans will get to Mars within my lifetime without private pressure,' he said.

F2Pool, which holds over 11% of the Bitcoin network's hashrate, has been one of the largest players in the industry since its founding in 2013. Wang's decision to fund a crewed mission to Mars is seen as part of a wider trend among early crypto founders who are redirecting their capital into adjacent fields such as artificial intelligence and aerospace.