Unverified Claims and First Coin-orbiting Billionaire
Unlike the fictional lunar excursions in Bitcoiners lore, the boundaries of space exploration may have been first breached by someone deeply connected to the cryptocurrency.
Chun Wang, the co-founder of Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool and a known Bitcoin billionaire, has confirmed his status as a significant figure after his recent spaceflight. According to reports and his own statements, Wang shattered an unverified record: he is the first known Bitcoin billionaire to have achieved Earth orbit.
Speaking at Bitcoin 2025, Wang detailed his circum-polar orbital journey with a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. He dismissed the idea—popularized by a Supply Shock newsletter segment (and perhaps fueled by speculative narratives)—that any Bitcoiners (his words, loosely defined) had physically journeyed to space before him. Wang estimated that only ~50 individuals have ever left Low Earth Orbit, with some claiming timelines coinciding statistically with Bitcoin’s emergence, potentially including Bitcoiners on suborbital flights. However, his pole-orbiting mission appears distinctly ahead of this “Bitcoin Space Race” notion.
Recalling the mission, Wang noted: “Space was great. I already read a lot about space all my life, and I just went there for verification. So, don’t trust, verify. I verified space.”
Mission Profile: A Private, Privately Funded Endeavor
Wang’s orbital journey was privately funded for “an undisclosed sum” following a pitch to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. His stated goal was to operate the first ever commercial space flight over Earth’s poles.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft enabled this mission. According to reports, Wang commanded the three-and-a-half-day expedition. Crew Dragon capsules include reusable elements, typical for SpaceX missions.
Underscoring the training rigor, Wang spent three months undergoing astronaut-like preparation over a 14-month period. He stated the primary difference from government-funded astronauts remains financial: “The only difference…we pay ourselves, and professional astronauts, their respective countries pay for that.”
Intrinsic Motivation and Vision
Wang’s foray into space wasn’t born from mere curiosity about Earth from above, but from a core belief in Bitcoin’s potential role in human advancement.
He recounted his origin story, initially engaging with Bitcoin via the Slashdot platform in 2011. Following the impactful post on the currency reaching dollar parity, he began mining. Key to the venture was selling some of his cryptocurrency proceeds to help fund the space mission.
Digging deeper into the financial aspect of his journey—addressing potential Bitcoin transactions in space—Wang stated: “I think, you know, you cannot just stack that for no reason. Bitcoin, it can help humanity. And I think space is one of the next big things.” He echoed Musk’s goal: “…It’s very well worth it. Because eventually humans have to be — like Elon said, humans have to be multiplanetary. We cannot be stuck here.”
Regarding the actual usability of Bitcoin in zero-G, Wang acknowledged the four-person crew size makes microtransactions impractical: “Nobody asked me. Because, you know, payment, you have to pay from one person to another. We only had four people up there, I didn’t have to pay my colleague.” However, he concluded, “But yeah, we did have internet. I think future flyers, future space travelers, once we have a sizable community up there, they’ll have a reason to make a payment — they’ll make a payment.” This statement offers potential foresight for decentralized payment systems in later, larger space habitats.
