Elon Musk's commercial rocket venture, SpaceX, will launch the "DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon" in the first quarter of next year, accepting the meme-inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin as payment.
The dogecoin-funded mission was revealed by Geometric Energy Corporation on Sunday, but the mission's financial value was not disclosed.
In a statement released by Geometric Energy, SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero was quoted as saying, "We're excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!" "This mission will show how cryptocurrencies can be used beyond Earth orbit and lay the groundwork for interplanetary commerce."
In April, Musk announced on Twitter that SpaceX would place a "literal Dogecoin on the literal moon."
On Sunday, Dogecoin lost more than a third of its value after Musk referred to it as a "hustle" when appearing as a guest host on "Saturday Night Live."
This year, Musk's tweets transformed the once-obscure digital currency, which started as a social media joke, into a speculator's dream.
Tesla Inc, whose CEO is Elon Musk, announced in February that it had purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin and will soon embrace it as a form of payment for its electric vehicles, a significant step toward mainstream adoption that sent bitcoin to a record high of nearly $62,000.
