Bitcoin Mining Tycoon Commands SpaceX's First Crewed Mars Flyby
Chun Wang, co-founder of Chinese Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, has signed up for SpaceX's first crewed Mars flyby. He will command the mission alongside two other passengers, Dennis and Akiko Tito, who will travel around 125 miles above the lunar surface on a weeklong commercial flight before heading to Mars.
The Starship missions are expected to take two years to complete, with the spacecraft traveling beyond the Earth-Moon system, swinging past Mars, and returning home. Wang purchased seats on both upcoming missions, which he hopes will put pressure on governments to prioritize Mars exploration.
Wang's move is seen as part of a wider trend among early crypto founders investing in adjacent fields such as artificial intelligence, energy, and aerospace. However, analysts note that the purchase has little immediate impact on the Bitcoin mining industry, with hashprice, power contracts, and BTC price still being the main concerns for miners.