A company specializing in social intelligence for the cryptocurrency ecosystem, LunarCrush, has announced its intention to send a treasure chest of 62 Bitcoins (BTC), valued at approximately $1.76 million at the time of writing, to the moon. Literally.
The Bitcoin bounty, dubbed as Nakamoto_1, will only be accessible to the first space traveler who reaches the moon and obtains the private key for a crypto wallet engraved on the Lunar Outpost MAPP Rover, which will be launched into space later this year, the company said in an official press release published on March 23.
To achieve that, LunarCrush partnered with Lunar Outpost, animation studio Golden Wolf, and Bitcoin developer tools company Hiro to fund the project through the sale of an NFT collection. According to the firm, the ultimate goal is to “inspire the next generation of interplanetary exploration.”
The bounty is available to anyone on Earth
Notably, the project plans to fully document the process of engraving the private key affixed to the rover as a way to ensure complete transparency. Once Lunar Outpost’s MAPP Rover lands on the moon, the bounty is available to anyone on Earth who can devise and execute a plan to reach it.
As per the press release, the moon mission is part of a larger effort to inspire innovation and exploration.
“When you put out a seemingly unachievable goal, the innovation that happens can be incredible,” said Joe Vezzani, CEO of LunarCrush. “Our goal is to inspire people to build communities that will unlock a new era of exploration.”
Lunar Outpost’s Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Forrest Meyen, said,
“What may sound outlandish to some will open new frontiers that haven’t been explored outside the mind in a long time. Future generations will look to us as pioneers of interplanetary exploration and adventure.”
The Bitcoin bounty will be delivered via a SpaceX rocket in Q4 of this year, but the exact date has not yet been released for security reasons.
