On the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Diana, a blockchain startup, is launching a “lunar registry” that attempts to place the lunar surface on a distributed ledger.
The project is offering collective ownership of Earth’s only natural satellite through dividing the moon into 3,874,204,892 cells encoded on a blockchain by a 3-word address. Proof of stake in this “cadastral map” is represented by two tokens, dia and mond.
Why the fuck not? If you can become a Duke or Duchess of the Principality of Sealand or pay to have a star named after your pet, we damned well should be able to “own” the moon. From the sound of it, it appears that they are quite serious. According to the UN Space Treaty “Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.” The founders of Diana, however, are quick to point out that the treaty mentions nothing of “private ownership.”
Yet, the founders point out this treaty says nothing about “private ownership” or parceling of the solar system, noting that many sovereign nations, like China, and capital-rich corporations, like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, are gearing up to explore – and perhaps monopolize – humanity’s shared heritage.
The project leads think this next-gen space race will inevitably lead to the question of “who owns the moon.”
Who owns the moon, indeed! If the whole thing sounds fishy to you, the author would concur. Still, if you are willing to throw some cryptocurrency at the moon, maybe you can own a piece?
Source: Diana, a Blockchain ‘Lunar Registry,’ Attempts to Tokenize the Moon – CoinDesk
Reminds me of the old Kids in the Hall slot – “gee, I wonder who owns that moon?” — haha! Would make a nice gift for the lady so you could say you literally bought her (a piece of) the Moon. Yeah!!!