Planetary Resources may use blockchain for space mining rights

A delay in funding from February 2018 forced Planetary Resources to lay off some of its 70 employees.

Planetary Resources had planned on using several small spacecraft, launched as secondary payloads in 2020, fly to near-Earth asteroids to measure their water content. The funding issue will delay that mission.

Planetary Resources is reconsidering its reliance on a venture-funded model.

There are financing approaches used in terrestrial mining, such as special purpose vehicles, but Chris Lewicki noted that those rely on secured mineral rights that don’t exist for extraterrestrial bodies. Chris considering blockchain for space mining rights.

Nextbigfuture interprets this to mean possibly using tokens or ICOs.