Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ rocket and space exploration firm Blue Origin is now accepting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana to purchase flights to space.
The payments are made possible via the firm’s collaboration with payments company Shift4, whose payment infrastructure is enabling the crypto purchases—which can also be made with popular stablecoins like USDT and USDC.
“Crypto is now a $4 trillion asset class, and the sky is the limit when it comes to its potential in the current payments ecosystem,” Shift4 Head of Crypto Alex Wilson said in a statement.
“We believe crypto and stablecoins are going to become an increasingly popular way for consumers to pay, particularly for high-end purchases, as both the consumer and merchant benefit financially from these transactions.”
Flights into space with Blue Origin require at least a $150,000 deposit, though specifics about the total trip cost are not immediately available. The firm auctioned off the first-ever seat on its New Shepard spacecraft in 2021, securing a winning bid of $28 million from crypto billionaire and Tron founder, Justin Sun. Sun completed his trip to space last week.
Shift4’s payments infrastructure processes more than $260 billion globally, according to the firm’s website. In October, it rolled out global crypto payments functionality, allowing merchants to seamlessly accept cryptocurrencies.
The firm’s billionaire co-founder Jared Isaacman maintains ties to space, having become an astronaut and traveling beyond Earth via SpaceX. He also earned a nomination from President Donald Trump to become the NASA administrator, but his nomination was later pulled.
Shares of Shift4 (FOUR) finished Monday up 1.68% to $82.98, though shares remain down more than 20% year-to-date.