Crypto to Cosmos: How XRP’s McCaleb Plans to Launch Humanity into the Stars! 🚀

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XRP and Space, you might think, are as compatible as oil and water. Yet for one Jed McCaleb, founder of a delightful array of ventures—Mt. Gox, Ripple, and the little-known eDonkey—these two realms are the very backbone of his illustrious portfolio, not that anyone’s keen to ask.

Having left Ripple in 2013—presumably to find himself somewhere fabulously eccentric—McCaleb has grabbed his billion-dollar fortune from XRP sales with both hands and, in a fit of audacity, has now birthed his latest creation: Vast Space LLC. Yes, you heard that right; it’s a form of entrepreneurial gymnastics quite commendable, if not altogether baffling.

In a recent tête-à-tête with Bloomberg, McCaleb spilled the beans about Vast’s grand aspiration: launching Haven-1, a commercial space station complete with artificial gravity (as though we needed that in our lives), is expected by May 2026. Mark your calendars, folks! With the International Space Station (that venerable floating relic, will be retiring by 2030), McCaleb is marshalling his forces to win a NASA contract with all the ambition of a debutante at her first ball.

But hold onto your hats—Vast isn’t going it alone! Oh no. They’ve teamed up with SpaceX to launch Haven-2, because what’s better than one lofty aspiration? Clearly, two. The first Haven-2 module is slated to venture forth in 2028 aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket, with additional modules popping up like unwanted weeds after 2030 via the Starship. How delightful.

XRP’s Billion Dollar Sales are at Stake on Haven-1 Launch

Last year, Vana haughtily unveiled its design for the new space station, led by Max Haot, who, by sheer coincidence, has dabbled in, let’s say, slightly less ambitious projects, like Launcher and LiveStream. Vana Haven-1 is ambitiously pitched as a modular commercial space station with all the bells and whistles to outshine the beleaguered ISS — bless its heart, built back in 1998 and now barely an honorary guest due to its air leaks and structural wear.

With a launch schedule that reads like a poorly planned dinner party, Vana’s Haven-1 will start with a modest 16m module in 2028 and will expand as gracefully as a swan with three more modules in 2029-30, culminating in a core module by 2030-32. Talk about over-promising!

Haven-2 is set to align with NASA’s CLD program, apparently seeking to replace the ISS—after all, who wouldn’t want to compete for the illustrious Phase 2 contracts in 2026?

Currently established in the sunny climes of Long Beach, California, Vast flaunts a manufacturing facility that spans a whopping 165,000 sq ft. It’s practically the size of a small country! With a workforce nearing 600, and rumor has it they’re adding 20 fresh faces to the manufacturing and engineering brigade each week—if only they could tackle my personal to-do list with similar vigor.

McCaleb, frequently described as a “deliberate risk-taker” by friends—because admitting to lunacy is ever so fashionable—proclaims, “I don’t need this much money to live. Some people buy yachts. That doesn’t tickle my fancy. I’m interested in building things that change the trajectory of humanity.” How quaint, indeed! No yacht for him, thank you very much! Though, in a rare moment of camaraderie, Chris Larsen, despite their frosty history, has expressed his admiration for McCaleb’s audacious ambition. How sweet.

Glancing at McCaleb’s Unconventional Journey into Space

Our dear hero, Jed McCaleb, has taken quite the unconventional journey—from the murky depths of cryptocurrency to the heavenly heights of space. One might say he’s reached for the stars, albeit in a somewhat reckless manner.

In 2010, he cobbled together Mt. Gox, transforming it into one of the world’s first Bitcoin exchanges, which quickly bloomed into the largest crypto trading platform until Mark Karpelès waltzed off with it in 2011. Ah, those were the days!

Then, venturing into greener pastures, he co-founded Ripple (originally OpenCoin, for those who enjoy a bit of juicy trivia) with Chris Larsen, setting out to construct a lightning-fast blockchain-based payments network before departing in a huff in 2013. The intrigue!

Upon his departure, McCaleb was left with a staggering 9 billion XRP, which he agreed to sell gradually, the best-laid plans indeed, to avoid upsetting the proverbial apple cart. From 2014 to 2021, he sold off bits and pieces, presumably for how much? Oh, a measly $3 to $5 billion, give or take a couple of grand. By July 2022, he gulped down his final XRP and bid adieu to that endeavor. The funds from his trading escapades have now been funneled into Vast, though let’s not dwell on the details.

Now, standing upon the precipice of financial catastrophe, McCaleb’s lofty endeavor, Vast, carries significant risks—almost half of his fortune precariously balanced on its success. Certainly a gamble worth the price of admission! And while vying for those oh-so-coveted NASA Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) contracts, there’s still no guarantee that fate will smile upon him. After all, a rotating habitat is hardly pedestrian in the realm of space engineering. Should the design miss the mark, Haven-1 might quickly become just another tale of missed opportunities.

But for now, let’s sit back and marvel at how McCaleb’s ambitious dreams of space travel are unwittingly entangled with the world of cryptocurrencies. How charmingly ironic, don’t you think?

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2025-03-26 15:44