Planetary Resources’ President and CEO Chris Lewicki and General Counsel Brian Israel have joined ConsenSys in connection with the acquisition.
Brian Israel served in the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, where he was responsible for the international legal dimensions of outer space, oceans and international environmental governance matters, and served as U.S. Representative to the United Nations space law body.
Brian Israel said “Ethereum smart contract functionality is a natural solution for private-ordering and commerce in space—the only domain of human activity not ordered around territorial sovereignty—in which a diverse range of actors from a growing number of countries must coordinate and transact.”
Ethereum Co-founder and ConsenSys Founder Joe Lubin said, “I admire Planetary Resources for its world class talent, its record of innovation, and for inspiring people across our planet in support of its bold vision for the future. Bringing deep space capabilities into the ConsenSys ecosystem reflects our belief in the potential for Ethereum to help humanity craft new societal rule systems through automated trust and guaranteed execution. And it reflects our belief in democratizing and decentralizing space endeavors to unite our species and unlock untapped human potential. We look forward to sharing our plans and how to join us on this journey in the months ahead.”
ConsenSys
ConsenSys is a global organism building the infrastructure, applications, and practices that enable a decentralized world.
ConsenSys Labs incubates the best teams of Web3 across the globe, providing them capital, mentorship, and access to ConsenSys’s network of top-tier projects and talent.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
As I understand it, many ICOs create a new ‘token’ specific to them on the Ethereum network. There’s even a standard way to do it, called ERC20. Yes, the long term of the investment payback is a difficulty. But if the payback is large enough, the average rate of growth can be pretty high. E.g. a 100x growth in value over 50 years equates to nearly 10% return a year (compounded). Of course, keeping a company alive long enough to get out of the red is not going to be easy. One thing that traditionally helped enable risky ventures was granting a company a national monopoly on a particular form of business or trade. It’d cost the government next to nothing to grant a 30 year monopoly to a “public-private partnership” corporation. Or they might dump in $100M to get the company through some proof of concept missions, so that private capital might consider it a risky but worthwhile bet.
As I understand it, many ICOs create a new ‘token’ specific to them on the Ethereum network. There’s even a standard way to do it, called ERC20.
Yes, the long term of the investment payback is a difficulty. But if the payback is large enough, the average rate of growth can be pretty high. E.g. a 100x growth in value over 50 years equates to nearly 10% return a year (compounded). Of course, keeping a company alive long enough to get out of the red is not going to be easy.
One thing that traditionally helped enable risky ventures was granting a company a national monopoly on a particular form of business or trade. It’d cost the government next to nothing to grant a 30 year monopoly to a “public-private partnership” corporation. Or they might dump in $100M to get the company through some proof of concept missions, so that private capital might consider it a risky but worthwhile bet.
Sounds like they’d be using the already-established Ethereum cryptocurrency. ICO or IPO still need a rationalization for determining value, day-trading on something that won’t bring revenue for at least a decade is hard to justify.
The cynic in me reckoned that Arkyd Astronautics largely changed their name and their traditional mission statement to the sexy “Asteroid Mining” stuff to attract VC funding(fake it till you make it)I was still hoping their traditional astronautics business would keep them afloat long enough to make the “Asteroid Mining” dream a reality.
Sounds like they’d be using the already-established Ethereum cryptocurrency. ICO or IPO still need a rationalization for determining value, day-trading on something that won’t bring revenue for at least a decade is hard to justify.
Ravencoin is the blockchain optimized for native asset handling.In Etherium, it’s added on as a second layer.
No, they’ve been launching test satellites in Earth orbit to develop the prospecting technology. Both Japan and the US are visiting Near Earth Asteroids right now, of the type you would want to mine first. So that will be more useful data needed before you start.
Ravencoin is the blockchain optimized for native asset handling.
In Etherium, it’s added on as a second layer.
No, they’ve been launching test satellites in Earth orbit to develop the prospecting technology. Both Japan and the US are visiting Near Earth Asteroids right now, of the type you would want to mine first. So that will be more useful data needed before you start.
So maybe they want to do an ICO to support asteroid mining? Some of the biggest ICOs have raised over $1B.
That’s what I’m afraid of. Not that investors SHOULD he left out to dry. This is just an opinion, but I see the need for asteroid mining as very necessary. I just hope someone else picks up that ball and runs with it.
So maybe they want to do an ICO to support asteroid mining? Some of the biggest ICOs have raised over $1B.
But Ethereum has a near-complete spec for proof of stake now, which eliminates almost all of its electricity consumption. Teams are already starting to implement clients, and it’ll roll out over the next couple years….2019 for the initial version and another year or two to include some massive scaling improvements.
That’s what I’m afraid of. Not that investors SHOULD he left out to dry. This is just an opinion, but I see the need for asteroid mining as very necessary. I just hope someone else picks up that ball and runs with it.
Industry folk saying this is only a way to not leave employees/investors out to dry. That there’s no future for the actual space exploration part of the project.
I paid $40 to that company as part of their Kickstarter for launching Arkyd-3, but the Orbital Sciences launch vehicle blew shortly after taking off from the launch pad. At least they refunded my money, though. They need to get with the smallsat launch companies and speed up their plans.
Might work out well – though not necessarily for asteroid mining. Maybe they want some talented engineers to build cubesat blockchain processing engines. Free power in space! with environmental impact avoided. Might provide a way to bring money in early and they can still branch out to asteroid mining later.”It’s been estimated that Bitcoin guzzles about as much electricity annually as all of Nigeria. Ethereum gulps electrons too, as do most other cryptocurrencies. ” link:
But Ethereum has a near-complete spec for proof of stake now, which eliminates almost all of its electricity consumption. Teams are already starting to implement clients, and it’ll roll out over the next couple years….2019 for the initial version and another year or two to include some massive scaling improvements.
Running out of precious resources here on earth would also be cataclysmic if not hyperinflationary. Its the right step and anyhow, if/when first batches of resources arrive from the “new worlds” they will be peacemeal and likely used for fuel in the early orbital economy.
There is a lot of work to be done before we can begin the process of mining asteroids. So any company that is ablable to help grow Planetary Resources would be helpful, so long as they don’t shelve it. Once we do begin to mine asteroids, there is a possibility that resources could flood the market and devalue certain lucrative commodities. Honestly, though, my reaction to that: OOOO! An abundance of resources that could benefit humanity! I’m SO SCARED! *wiggles fingers in mock horror*The downside of that is the possibility of a huge, overall market spiral. While nobody can really can point to previous recessions and depressions and proclaim, “That didn’t suck! It was one of the greatest things to ever happen!” … we’ve always recovered. I think things would balance out. Maybe. I just know I would love to live to see the outcome.
Industry folk saying this is only a way to not leave employees/investors out to dry. That there’s no future for the actual space exploration part of the project.
I paid $40 to that company as part of their Kickstarter for launching Arkyd-3, but the Orbital Sciences launch vehicle blew shortly after taking off from the launch pad. At least they refunded my money, though. They need to get with the smallsat launch companies and speed up their plans.
Might work out well – though not necessarily for asteroid mining. Maybe they want some talented engineers to build cubesat blockchain processing engines. Free power in space! with environmental impact avoided. Might provide a way to bring money in early and they can still branch out to asteroid mining later.
“It’s been estimated that Bitcoin guzzles about as much electricity annually as all of Nigeria. Ethereum gulps electrons too, as do most other cryptocurrencies. ” link: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609480/bitcoin-uses-massive-amounts-of-energybut-theres-a-plan-to-fix-it/
Has the company reached any asteroid yet?
keep it alive
Running out of precious resources here on earth would also be cataclysmic if not hyperinflationary.
Its the right step and anyhow, if/when first batches of resources arrive from the “new worlds” they will be peacemeal and likely used for fuel in the early orbital economy.
There is a lot of work to be done before we can begin the process of mining asteroids. So any company that is ablable to help grow Planetary Resources would be helpful, so long as they don’t shelve it.
Once we do begin to mine asteroids, there is a possibility that resources could flood the market and devalue certain lucrative commodities.
Honestly, though, my reaction to that: OOOO! An abundance of resources that could benefit humanity! I’m SO SCARED! *wiggles fingers in mock horror*
The downside of that is the possibility of a huge, overall market spiral. While nobody can really can point to previous recessions and depressions and proclaim, “That didn’t suck! It was one of the greatest things to ever happen!” … we’ve always recovered. I think things would balance out. Maybe. I just know I would love to live to see the outcome.
Has the company reached any asteroid yet?
keep it alive