Chun Wang, the co-founder of Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, has been tapped by SpaceX to command its first private crewed interplanetary mission — a two-year Mars flyby that will return to Earth. The announcement came this week during a global Starship V3 launch livestream, with a pre-recorded message originating from Bouvet Island, one of the most remote places on the planet.
Who is Chun Wang
Wang co-founded F2Pool in 2013, back when Bitcoin was still a niche hobby for most people. Since then, the pool has mined more than 1.3 million BTC — that's over 9% of all Bitcoin blocks ever produced. In a 2022 tweet from the account CryptoSavingExpert, Wang reportedly bought his first Bitcoin at $1. That detail, while unverified, has long circulated among early adopters as a badge of honor.
Inside the announcement
SpaceX didn't drop the news at a press conference or in a press release. Instead, they tucked it into a livestream showcasing Starship V3, with Wang delivering his message from Bouvet Island — a Norwegian territory in the South Atlantic that's mostly ice and rock. The choice of location fits the mission's theme: isolation, endurance, and a touch of the surreal.
The mission itself is a Mars flyby, not a landing. The crew will loop around the red planet and head back to Earth, a round trip expected to take about two years. SpaceX hasn't released the full crew roster or a firm launch date, but Wang's appointment signals that the company is serious about putting private citizens — not just NASA astronauts — on deep-space flights.
From mining pool to Mars
Wang's background is a long way from the aerospace industry. F2Pool is one of the oldest and biggest Bitcoin mining operations, and he's been a fixture in crypto for over a decade. But SpaceX has a history of picking unconventional commanders — think Jared Isaacman on the Inspiration4 mission. Wang brings a proven track record of managing distributed systems at scale, which might come in handy when you're millions of miles from Mission Control.
No word yet on whether Wang will be mining Bitcoin from the Starship during the journey. But given his history, it wouldn't be a surprise.
