Moon mission paid entirely with Dogecoin set for 2022 launch with SpaceX

Dogecoin was originally created in 2013 and is sometimes thought of as a joke cryptocurrency due its logo depicting a Shiba Inu dog that was popularised in memes on Reddit.

In the last year, the value of Dogecoin has skyrocketed by around 20,000 per cent, partly due to support for the cryptocurrency shown on Twitter by SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

Now, Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC) has plans to launch a lunar payload paid entirely with Doge after SpaceX said it would start accepting it for payment.

The firm will send up a 40kg cubesat as a rideshare on a Falcon 9 lunar payload mission which will obtain lunar-spatial intelligence from sensors and cameras on-board with integrated communications and computational systems.

“Having officially transacted with Doge for a deal of this magnitude, Geometric Energy Corporation and SpaceX have solidified Doge as a unit of account for lunar business in the space sector,” said GEC’s chief executive officer Samuel Reid.

“This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce,” said SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero. “We’re excited to launch Doge-1 to the Moon!”

While the value of Doge has soared in recent months, Musk hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in the US this past weekend in which he jokingly described the currency as a "hustle", causing its value to almost instantly drop by more than a third.

Musk previously purchased $1.5bn worth of Bitcoin through his Tesla automotive firm, which also caused that currency’s value to soar. The firm later sold around 10 per cent of its Bitcoin holdings, netting it around $101m in income.