F2Pool Founder Chun Wang Joins SpaceX’s First Crewed Mars Mission

F2Pool founder Chun Wang will join SpaceX’s first crewed Mars mission, extending a broader trend of tech entrepreneurs using private capital to back space exploration into the cryptocurrency industry.

Cointelegraph reported on May 25 that Wang, a Chinese-born entrepreneur based in Malta, has signed on for SpaceX’s first human Mars mission. He is reported to have purchased the mission.

SpaceX said the mission will last about two years. It will travel beyond the moon, perform a close flyby of Mars and return to Earth. Wang has also purchased a ticket for a commercial lunar-orbit flight scheduled ahead of the Mars mission.

In a post on X, Wang wrote that humanity would reach the moon soon even without private investment in lunar flights. He said intensifying competition between the US and China would drive governments to make lunar bases a reality. Mars, by contrast, may not be achieved in our lifetime, he wrote. By purchasing the Mars flyby mission, he added, he hopes to give SpaceX another reason not to forget Mars.

Private spaceflight has recently attracted more technology entrepreneurs. Notable examples include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Virgin Group co-founder Richard Branson and Shift4 Payments founder Jared Isaacman.

SpaceX plans to begin Starship cargo flights to Mars for research, development and exploration purposes as early as 2028. The company’s long-term goal is to build a self-sustaining city on Mars. SpaceX says that effort would require more than 1 million people and millions of tons of cargo.

Wang wrote that he hopes the mission will show the public that Mars is not merely a bright point seen through a telescope, but a real place. He also wants to show that humans can go there and return alive and healthy.

Wang founded F2Pool in 2013 as one of China’s early Bitcoin mining pools. Data from mempool.space show F2Pool now holds more than 11.85% of the market, making it the third-largest Bitcoin mining pool.

In April, Wang also funded and personally led SpaceX’s Fram2 mission. The flight traveled over Earth’s polar regions and conducted experiments in space, including X-ray imaging and mushroom cultivation. The crew included German polar scientist Rabea Rogge, Norwegian cinematographer Jannicke Mikkelsen and Australian polar explorer Eric Philips.