A bitcoin headed for the moon may be lost in space

Houston, we have a problem — BitMEX’s and Bitcoin Magazine’s space mission isn’t going to plan

article-image

Oleg_Yakovlev/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

The bitcoin payload that departed for the moon early Monday may never make it there.

Just hours after successfully taking off from Florida’s Space Coast, the Peregrin 1 lander, including a Bitcoin Genesis Block commemorative plaque and an engraved coin with a private key unlocking 1 BTC, suffered what ground controllers call “a failure within the propulsion system.”

The resulting “critical loss of propellant” all but rules out the possibility of successfully landing on the moon.

Read more: Bitcoin hitches a ride on a rocket to the moon

That’s disappointing news for BitMEX and the groups behind the 19 other payloads on board the spacecraft. Most of the science experiments, such as NASA’s Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS) will be utterly useless if the lander can’t touch down safely.

NASA paid approximately $108 million for its five scientific instruments that are part of the Peregrine 1 mission, plus $79.5 million to Astrobotic to carry these five payloads to the lunar surface. This arrangement is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which aims to leverage commercial partnerships to deliver payloads to the Moon, thus reducing overall mission costs.

Any new technology comes with risks, and the initial outlook for the mission following a successful launch of the Vulcan rocket by United Launch Alliance was promising. As of Tuesday morning, the Astrobotic team was assessing what science can be salvaged from the mission.

Loading Tweet..

There have been a few efforts to “send crypto to space” before, such as the Copernic Metaverse to the Moon concept originally planned for 2022, in collaboration with the Lunar Outpost’s MAPP Rover, which has yet to launch.

Astrobotic itself previously partnered with a “social-auction app” called Superbid, that seems to have crashed and burned before it could get off the ground — its domain is now pointing to an unrelated app.

BitMEX planned a trading competition to run until the lander’s planned touchdown date of Feb. 23, which will continue, for now.

The firm has no contingency plan to retrieve the one bitcoin in the event the craft can’t reach the moon.

“The private key is engraved onto the physical Bitcoin under a tamper-proof, heat and pressure resistant hologram,” a BitMEX representative told Blockworks. “The engraving was done under strictest security measures by a specialized secret messaging agency.”

Still, most of the mission’s symbolism remains intact, they said.

“Bitcoin to the Moon mission serves as a powerful reminder that crypto is not only here to stay for future generations, but more significantly, highlights the remarkable progress in terms of technological advancement.”


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (4).png

Research

Even as the most performant, widely used blockchain today, Solana is still far from perfect, prompting some teams to iterate upon some design choices while maintaining compatibility at the SVM execution layer. This report analyzes three emergent SVM chains (Eclipse, Atlas, and Fogo) to understand the motivations behind the technical architectures, as well as the current state and future outlook.

article-image

Fundamental investors are turning to token buybacks

article-image

A Glassnode report found that the accumulation range for bitcoin is ‘weak,’ indicating a decline in demand

article-image

CEO Bam Azizi said he’ll only be seeking stablecoin-exclusive funding rounds from now on

article-image

Sponsored

WalletConnect is set to deepen its role by integrating with emerging standards and expanding its utility across different onchain sectors

article-image

Zeta Markets has shipped testnet for Bullet, a low-latency “network extension,” the team told Lightspeed exclusively

article-image

Having passed Congress, the resolution will now head to Trump’s desk