New Delhi: Elon Musk's commercial rocket company SpaceX will launch the satellite Doge-1 to the moon in the first quarter next year and it is accepting the meme-inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin as payment.
On Sunday Geometric Energy Corporation issued an statement in which they announced the dogecoin-funded mission without disclosing the mission's financial value.
"We're excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!", SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero was quoted as saying in the statement released by Geometric Energy. "This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earthorbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce"
This was indicated by Musk himself on April when he said SpaceX was going to put a "literal Dogecoin on the literal moon" according to Reuters.
In the early US hours on Sunday of the value of dogecoin sharply dropped, after Musk called it a 'hustle' during his guest-host spot on the "Saturday Night Live" comedy sketch TV show. Dogecoin was quoted as low as $0.47 on crypto exchange Binance, down 28% from levels around $0.65 before the show.
Dogecoin began as internet joke since Musk believes cryptocurrency to be the "future of currency" he turned the once-obscure digital currency into a speculator's dream.
The Tesla Inc chief will soon accept it as payment for the electric cars in a large stride toward mainstream acceptance that sent bitcoin soaring to a record high of nearly $62,000.