Does MoonDAO Matter?

At a time where most DAOs have failed to have real world impact, MoonDAO is sending people off-world. Literally.

We’ve sent TWO human beings to space, more than most nation states. And now we want to help send more people. Perhaps even you?

Our missions aren’t powered by PR stunts or government handouts. It is a community-powered moonshot, proof that DAOs can move beyond bits and bytes, and actually put boots in space. Now, we want to put these tools into the hands of even more people.

It’s easy to forget how audacious our mission sounded at first. But today, we’re a DAO that actually does and we’re building a permissionless, global infrastructure for accelerating humanity’s future in space: The Internet’s Space Program.

In the past year, that vision has become undeniably real…

• Sending an Everyday Person to Space: Of the ~800 people that have been to space, two were sent by us. The first person was an influencer who was chosen by the DAO based on the wider impact they could have (the resulting YouTube video has +43 million views), whereas the second was just a regular, everyday person, randomly selected to go to space. There’s something truly radical about 2,000+ strangers getting together to send a regular person to space. Not a millionaire or a celebrity. Not a test pilot or career astronaut. Dr. Eiman Jahangir, a heart doctor from Nashville who was born in Iran and grew up during a time of war where rockets instilled fear rather than inspiring dreams, was randomly selected to go to space in a seat that was paid for by random internet strangers. Eiman had dreamed of going to space for decades, but was still just an ordinary guy. And while his personal story is inspiring, he wasn’t selected because of it. His launch inspires because it could have been any of us.

• Launching the Space Acceleration Network: We’ve brought 115+ Citizens to the Network, most of whom are taking their first steps onchain (without knowing it). Thanks to Privy, new crypto users can create a wallet with their email address and get crypto via Coinbase onramp or MoonPay with their debit card or Venmo, Paypal, or Google and Apply Pay. To celebrate surpassing 100 Citizens, we airdropped 10,000,000 $vMOONEY to Citizens and current $vMOONEY holders. Citizens are also earning compensation for their independent work to advance our multiplanetary mission, with 11.9 ETH (~$29,640) in retroactive compensation and 9,453,836 vMOONEY distributed last quarter.
• Space Companies Coming Onchain: Beyond space professionals and enthusiasts, we’re bringing real space companies onchain, including Intuitive Machines, Space for Humanity, the Mars Society, the Human Space Program, and other major players in the space industry, creating self-custody Safe treasuries for their funds, so they can receive payment for products or services sold onchain in the integrated marketplace, and hire directly from our professional network of Citizens. These teams are already generating revenue onchain by tapping into the power of the Network. This is one small step toward our vision of a lunar and space economy powered by crypto and smart contracts. No one is bringing a Visa card or wads of dollar bills to space. Our off-world future will be onchain.
• A Treasure on the Moon: Speaking of off-world funds, working with LifeShip, we sent a bounty hidden inside a Golden Pyramid now resting in the Moon’s Mare Crisium. There is a private key engraved in nickel nanofiche inside, with access to thousands of dollars in ETH, Solana, and ERC-20 tokens. We brought aboard the Meme World Order which is composed of some of the most passionate onchain communities out there like Mr. Miggles, Own the Doge, and Elon RWA, who added their community tokens (in addition to our 20 million $MOONEY) and NFTs. The first humans to recover the private key on the Moon unlock this lunar treasure chest. The age of space bounty hunters has officially begun.
• Adding 214+ ETH to the Treasury: We were able to overcome a significant hurdle when it comes to crypto-native organizations, and received some large fiat-to-crypto wire transfers from traditional space organizations using Skyline Digital. This included sales on our epic Zero-G flight in March 2024 with our partner Space for a Better World who brought along three NASA astronauts: Apollo 16 Moonwalker Charlie Duke, Nicole Stott, and Doug Hurley. Swapping for ETH during the dip was a blessing in disguise after bureaucratic delays. That’s ~$533,000 in funds returned to the treasury in the past two months.
• The Bitcoin Standard and Staking ETH: While growing MoonDAO’s treasury, we also diversified it, swapping 34 ETH for 1.43 wBTC which is now worth ~60 ETH, thanks to the recent Bitcoin pump. 96 ETH was also staked via Kiln Finance for a 3% reward rate, which will generate ~3 ETH per year. We’re adding liquidity pools for MOONEY-ETH on Base and Arbitrum and will be distributing liquidity fees directly to token holders. Being a $vMOONEY holder is about to get even sweeter.
• Documentary About Eiman: Following his space flight, Eiman made it his mission to inspire and motivate kids to pursue their dreams, speaking at Nashville area schools from elementary to high school ages, reaching hundreds of students. A documentary crew captured this inspiring outreach, sharing Eiman’s life and how he got to space, as well as the impact he made on these students. Stay tuned for release later this year. In another piece of amazing news, after his MoonDAO mission, Dr. Eiman Jahangir was hired by Blue Origin as part of the “Crewmember 7” team, which trains future astronauts. The impact of one MoonDAO mission will continue to resonate.

We’re building the infrastructure for open space access, from governance to economic tools. Crypto is more than memes and speculation, it’s an engine for finding and funding new heroes, launching bold new ideas, and building the future we all want. The impact from our two astronauts will continue to reverberate, but what if we could unlock the tools to send 100 people to space? To launch 100 space companies from garages or dorm rooms?

For decades, space has been an exclusive frontier. Men in flight suits on government missions meant to fly flags. Space was something to watch from the sidelines — through grainy footage, televised launches, and inspiring speeches about giant leaps.

In the 1960s, space captured the world’s imagination because it represented something bigger than us. It gave us permission to dream. Somewhere along the way, that spark faded. The public became bystanders to progress, watching billion-dollar launches that had no tangible impact on their lives as the promise of a techno-optimistic, spacefaring future became nothing more than Hollywood entertainment.

The doors have opened slightly, but in the 60+ years since human spaceflight began, less than 800 people have been to space… Less than what a small cruise ship carries on a single journey. Today’s flights are for billionaires or those of their choosing to generate good publicity.

But space is becoming exciting again with revolutionary hardware advances by SpaceX and the flourishing of civilian spaceflight through Blue Origin. The cost of launch is steadily dropping. The lines between astronaut, artist, and adventurer are beginning to blur.

The sky is no longer just for professional astronauts.

Space is meant for storytellers, teachers, singers, philosophers, hackers, YouTubers, and cardiologists, for people who don’t have the “Right Stuff” and never had the possibility of going.

Open access to space is not about inclusivity. It’s not about optics or good PR. It’s about rewriting the rules of access to space, and building new onramps to the stars for the rest of us. MoonDAO is a platform for regular people to be part of missions by funding, governing, and participating in them. Ultimately, money and access to capital is what makes things happen in space. While we as individuals may not be rich enough, together we can be a force of nature.

What Comes Next?

We want to blow the doors to space wide open by putting these tools in the hands of more people and more organizations.

This will be a paradigm shift in how spaceflight missions, startups, and organizations are funded, building on the same mechanisms that propelled MoonDAO to space in less time than it takes most to create a concept of a plan.

Yes, we want to help send more people to space.

While talking to Citizens and Teams in the Network, the one thing we heard over and over again was a desire to utilize the same funding mechanisms that MoonDAO used and tap into onchain capital that moves at the speed of the Internet rather than the snail's pace of government grants or the whims of billionaires.

The first of these new human spaceflight missions is already in the works, set to go live on what we’re calling the Launchpad.

Within the next couple months, this new and ambitious crowdfunding campaign built on Juicebox architecture will debut on the Launchpad in order to send someone incredibly important to the space industry.

This is NOT going to be an isolated, one-off event. We’re laying the foundation for something long-term and sustainable: a growing movement tapping into the Network with its own rhythm, logic, and trajectory.

This is a different type of space program. One that is not run by nations or companies, but by regular people—connected by belief, purpose, and a willingness to try something radically new.

We’re building the default platform for anyone looking to participate in space development outside the traditional path. Balaji Srinavasin has dubbed X and Warpcaster a parallel media ecosystem, Bitcoin and Ethereum a parallel financial services sector, and Prospera and Zuzalu as parallel city or nation states. MoonDAO is a parallel space exploration agency, one fueled by the free market and global, permissionless financial tools. In light of the ongoing uncertainty and budget cuts in Washington D.C., and around the world, the existence of parallel institutions like MoonDAO will only grow more important with time.

Together, we can send more people to space, launch more space businesses, and get everyday people not just excited about space but involved in humanity’s next great leap into what promises to be a trillion dollar industry.

Unlocking access to space for regular people matters. MoonDAO’s mission matters more than ever.