Bitcoin Forum

If Paypal also adopt bitcoin, the price will go through the roof, and the sky, and to other planets....


http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/06/27/paypal_galactic_buzz_aldrin_seti_announce_outer_space_payments_service.html

PayPal brought in astronaut Buzz Aldrin on Thursday to announce the launch of PayPal Galactic, an initiative to figure out a way for people to pay each other while traveling in space or living on other planets.

No, it isn’t a joke. And while it may sound like a publicity stunt, both Aldrin and PayPal president David Marcus promised that it’s also a genuine business proposition—albeit one that remains some years away.

"It’s not unrealistic to predict we’re only a generation away from a permanent human presence on Mars,” said Aldrin, who became the second man on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. He added, “Whether it’s paying a bill or even helping a family member on Earth, we’ll need access to money.”

PayPal’s Marcus said the program, launched in partnership with the SETI Institute, would “increase public awareness of the important questions that need to be addressed” as commercial space travel increases. “We may not answer these questions today or even this year, but one thing is clear: We won’t be using cash in space.” John Spencer of the Space Tourism Society predicted that the first “space hotels” will open up shop within the next decade, and will need a payments system.

It’s not a bad idea for PayPal to get in on the ground floor. But that doesn’t mean the company won’t have competition once space commerce gets going. Skip Smith, the former head of space law for the Air Force, told The Verge’s Casey Newton that most people today pre-pay for goods and services while they’re still on the ground. But he said that credit cards could be an option if and when space hotels become a reality:

"Once you're up there, if you want to buy an extra bottle of champagne, they can probably run that on your charge card," Smith said. But longer stays in orbit, and the colonization of new planets, will make that more difficult. Eventually, he said — maybe 20 years from now — new solutions will need to emerge.
Space tourism is already happening on a small scale, with Space Adventures leading wealthy private citizens on trips to the International Space Station, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic getting into the game. But the real money in the next couple of decades could be in deep-space mining, where startups like Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries are looking to drill into asteroids for precious metals and other booty.

If this is indeed the beginning of a new gold rush—or platinum rush—it makes sense that PayPal, a company co-founded by SpaceX’s Elon Musk, would be there to capitalize. It’s a big universe, but when it comes to the people with the means and vision to explore it, it’s actually a pretty small world.

Another guy comes to mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel

Sounds interesting although it's kind of absurd. I guess the Star Wars scenario is going to happen much much sooner than I thought.  :D

No doubt that they have also filed patent applications that they will claim gives them domain over any transactions with one or more end-points located off-earth.

They're heeeerrrreeeee.......     :o

I will not trust a space trasaction until it gets 6 confirmations :p

This is clearly a push back against innovation like bitcoin. They need to stay relevant somehow. I'm not sure this makes any sense though.  Who is their target market? Who will make use of this?

Space tourism is right around the corner...

Don't laugh! They're already building the ships.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ9TFOX9UHkgEX8hKdd-5yU4Q3THVogbKsnmdRGx9qPdEdBlLDbaA

Concerning the time for confirmations:

Since we're not planning on leaving earth obit anytime soon, confirmation time shouldn't be an issue. By the time we start colonizing Mars and beyond, any confirmation issues will be resolved.

The bottom line is, I believe, that this is nothing but a publicity stunt of sorts.

If Buzz Aldrin is worth his salt, then nothing short of endorsing Bitcoin should be considered. He's position to be the man who introduced the first galactic currency, forever known as (the) Bitcoin Buzz.