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Dogecoin cryptocurrency: started as a fun project
Photo: Richard Drew / AP
There are things you can't buy.
Not even as one of the richest men in the world.
Then it helps if you are invited.
Last weekend Elon Musk hosted the legendary US comedy show "Saturday Night Live".
Not only did he bring his mother on stage to congratulate her on Mother's Day, he also played financial expert Lloyd Ostertag in one of the skits, who is supposed to explain the Dogecoin phenomenon.
The crypto currency was actually started as a fun project at the end of 2013.
It refers to the meme Doge, which became popular at the time: a dog, originally a Japanese Shiba named Innu, is shown together with a grammatically incorrect text.
Musk had recently fueled the course again and again with various statements.
The market capitalization was briefly around 73 billion dollars.
In the show itself, however, Musk expressed himself critically as Easter day: The whole thing was a "hustle".
Depending on how you translate the word, it can also mean a rip-off.
Musk's mother had previously said she didn't hope to get Dogecoins for her birthday.
The course of the cryptocurrency then fell.
Price: unknown
A short time later, however, SpaceX and the Canadian company Geometric Energy Corporation reported that both sides had agreed on a space mission that would be paid entirely in Dogecoin.
Beyond the vague announcement phrases, however, not much tangible information is known about the project called "Doge-1", not even the price.
Apparently it is supposed to go to the moon, with a small satellite weighing only 40 kilograms.
This should be launched together with others in the first quarter of next year with a "Falcon 9" rocket from SpaceX.
Such collective transports are not uncommon, at least for Earth orbit, and Geometric Energy Corporation recently announced that it had booked a transport into Earth orbit.
There was no talk of the moon either.
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"This mission will demonstrate the use of cryptocurrencies beyond Earth orbit and lay the foundation for interplanetary trade," says Tom Ochinero now.
He is responsible for sales of aviation opportunities at SpaceX.
We are looking forward to »launching 'Doge-1' to the moon«.
Whatever the mission, if it ever flies.
Other lunar missions for which the company is currently in talks with the US space agency NASA are strategically more important for SpaceX.
The question is whether the company is allowed to deliver the aircraft with which American and, if necessary, international space travelers come from lunar orbit to the surface of the earth's satellite.
For these transports, NASA would like to use the "Starship" that SpaceX is currently developing and testing.
However, two competitors have appealed against the decision.
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