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Which Currency Will People Use in Space? Paypal (Shudder)?

Travel
by Austin Yoder Jul 15, 2013

Space travel is opening up for commercial tourists with the advent of programs like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. A space hotel plans to be in orbit by 2016. The opening of commercial space travel brings with it a host of pragmatic questions, such as:
  • Which currency will people use to pay for things in outer space?
  • How will regulation work? Because everything and everyone in space will be out of the jurisdiction of traditional Earth-bound nation states, will there even be any banking and/or currency regulations?
  • How will customers in space stay connected to their bank accounts and services back home?

Paypal has partnered with the SETI Institute to tackle some of these questions, in the process making a bold move to position itself at the head of the pack for any space-related payment option. Paypal’s President David Marcus gave the launch speech on June 27, 2013, going over some of the key details of their program for interstellar commerce from a stage at the SETI Institute, in the company of Astronaut Buzz Aldrin. You can see the full speech below, and read more about the Paypal Galactic program.

Question of the day: Does anyone out there think Bitcoin will be accepted in space?

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