Introduction: Blockchain & The Space Economy

George and I debated what to call this book for a while. And as all good debates waged over beers end, we decided to just call it what we were going to talk about. Blockchain & The Space Economy. You know Space has its own Force now? Space Force! Hence, Space having its own economy is the obvious next step.

Now, eleven years into the open source experiment that is Bitcoin and three years out from the hype of 2017 Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) when cryptocurrencies were destined for the moon, we take a look back at what the hype was really all about. Providing a historical perspective on not only what Bitcoin is but more importantly what the technology, blockchain, is. Turns out you can do a lot more with blockchain technology than make cryptocurrencies, especially in Space.

What this exploration of Bitcoin, blockchain and cryptonomics leads us to is The Space Economy. As of 2020 it's already valued at $400B. Here George and I differ a bit. By training George is an Economist, recovering energy trader and regulatory gun-slinger for, well, a regulator. In truth, my chapter on Mars' Monetary Policy has a spoiler alert: money has no value on Mars. And over the next three decades guess where Humanity is going? Space and then Mars.

Buckle up. Put on your thinking cap. If you find yourself torn or emotionally threatened by what follows, keep in mind this is a safe place. We're here to discuss what's real, what's hype and where our monetary and economic policies are headed in a digital age dictated by 5G, artificial intelligence, IoT, The Cloud, Machine Learning and the 5th Industrial Revolution that is the New Space Race.

You'll find that whether you agree with George's well-thought out, academically sound arguments about The Space Economy or my anthropologist perspective on Mars' economics and “money”, you will agree the economy of value is evolving. It is up to our economic and fiscal policies to not only recognize this moment in tech-driven monetary evolution but adapt to it with style or perish in antiquity.

Thanks for joining us on this ride. It's going to be wild.

In the immortal words of Buzz Lightyear: “To infinity and beyond!”