According to LunarCrush, the passcode will link to a wallet that will contain 62 bitcoin, which as of Monday afternoon was worth around $1.67 million. Of course, the price of bitcoin fluctuates heavily from week to week, so by the time the Falcon 9 takes off sometime in June, it could be worth much more or much less. It may take many, many more years before crypto bros can plant their own flag on the lunar surface, so who knows what people will be willing to spend for a single bitcoin by then.
This bitcoin bounty is being called “Nakamoto_1” after the presumed pseudonym of the person who created bitcoin back in 2008. Still, it’s not like LunarCrush has that money on hand. The company said it is asking for donations and is selling an NFT collection to raise funds for the bounty.Just 25% of the non-fungible token sales will go to funding the bitcoin bounty, while another 25% will go to funding “bitcoin core development and STEM education-related causes.
The private key will be engraved into a small piece of metal on the MAPP rover that needs to be unbolted to read. Considering that the rover itself is only the size of a microwave, the engraving should be reasonably easy to spot. Unbolting it from the rover, well, that presents another challenge altogether.Lunar Outpost has been advertising sponsorship and marketing opportunities as well as physical payload space for its upcoming lunar lander.