Jed McCaleb, the serial entrepreneur known for his involvement in the early days of the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange and as a co-founder of Ripple, is now venturing into space with Vast, his ambitious commercial space station company. The firm aims to launch Haven-1, its first orbital space station, by August 2025, a significant step toward McCaleb’s vision of expanding humanity’s presence beyond Earth.
Vast is positioning itself to compete for a NASA contract to develop a commercial replacement for the aging International Space Station (ISS), with awards expected in 2025. Securing this contract would establish Vast as a key player in the burgeoning commercial space industry. However, not winning the contract could potentially impact McCaleb’s substantial investment in the project and raise questions about the venture’s long-term viability.
“There are not that many folks who are willing to dedicate the amount of resources and time and risk tolerance that I am,” McCaleb stated to Bloomberg.
McCaleb’s ambitions align with those of other space industry pioneers, such as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who advocate for making humanity a multi-planetary species. Founded in 2021, Vast is constructing Haven-1 utilizing key SpaceX components, including a docking adapter compatible with Crew Dragon and an in-space Wi-Fi system powered by Starlink. The company has also secured SpaceX launch services to transport both hardware and astronauts to its station, subject to NASA’s approval.
However, Vast faces considerable competition from established aerospace companies like Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, and Voyager Space. To differentiate itself, the company is exploring the development of artificial gravity technology for future stations, aiming to mitigate the health risks associated with long-duration space travel. While Haven-1 will initially focus on short-term crew visits, Vast plans to incorporate long-term life-support systems into its subsequent project, Haven-2, targeted for deployment by 2028.
McCaleb’s transition from cryptocurrency to space exploration is notable. After launching the file-sharing service eDonkey in the early 2000s, he founded Mt. Gox in 2010, which became the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange before a significant security breach in 2014 led to its collapse. He subsequently co-founded Ripple and created the Stellar network, accumulating a substantial fortune that now funds his space endeavors.
As Vast progresses toward the launch of Haven-1, McCaleb’s willingness to take risks could potentially establish him as a prominent figure in the commercial space industry—or result in significant financial losses.
