# Mining Related Articles

HTX News Center provides the latest articles and in-depth analysis on "Mining", covering market trends, project updates, tech developments, and regulatory policies in the crypto industry.

From Mining Pool to Mars: Why Is Wang Chun in the SpaceX Cockpit?

Title: From Mining Pool to Mars: Why Wang Chun is in the SpaceX Cockpit? When SpaceX announced that Wang Chun, co-founder of F2Pool, would command the first commercial crewed interplanetary mission, many were shocked. Why would a Bitcoin mining pool founder be on a Mars mission roster? However, understanding Wang Chun's journey over the past decade and the deepening ties between the crypto industry and SpaceX reveals this is not accidental, but an inevitable result of a new era taking shape. Today's Mars plan is no longer just a space engineering project; it is evolving into a civilization-upgrading experiment driven by global tech capital, AI, computing power, energy, and the crypto economy. Wang Chun stands precisely at the intersection of these forces. Part 1: From F2Pool to SpaceX – Wang Chun's Leap F2Pool, founded when Bitcoin was still niche, is one of the earliest large-scale mining pools and once held a significant share of global Bitcoin hash rate. Wang Chun belongs to the first generation of Chinese Bitcoin advocates and infrastructure builders—idealists and engineers who believed in a new value network independent of traditional finance. Miners like him built the hardware, energy, and computing power foundational to decentralized networks. This aligns with the long-term, high-engineering, future-oriented vision required for space civilization. Elon Musk’s space endeavors value such long-term builders over mere capital players, which explains Wang Chun's entry into the SpaceX ecosystem. Part 2: Why Crypto and SpaceX Are Growing Closer The core of global tech competition is shifting from internet applications to next-generation infrastructure. Both crypto and SpaceX are part of this. SpaceX's goal is to drastically reduce space access costs. If successful, it could enable orbital servers, space-based energy, global satellite internet, and Martian bases. These new frontiers will require new payment systems, value networks, and global financial architectures. Cryptocurrencies, inherently global and trustless, are poised to become key to off-planet economies. Moreover, crypto and SpaceX share a high-risk, long-termist ethos—believing in ambitious, world-changing goals despite early skepticism. Part 3: Human Spaceflight Enters the Commercial Era Space exploration, long dominated by state actors, is now being transformed by commercial entities like SpaceX. Wang Chun's involvement signifies that future deep-space participants may include not just career astronauts, but also entrepreneurs, engineers, and AI researchers. This mirrors the Age of Exploration, where commercial capital eventually drove global expansion. Wang Chun has emphasized that Mars colonization must not be delayed for future generations, countering a potential over-focus on nearer-term, commercial lunar projects. His presence symbolizes how new capital, technical communities, and idealists from the crypto world are now entering the interstellar age. In summary, the true significance is not an individual's journey to Mars, but the shift in the driving force of human civilization expansion from state machinery to tech companies, AI systems, and global technology capital. Wang Chun's path—from mining pool to Mars, from the Bitcoin network to starships—may be a preview of technological civilization's evolution in the coming decades.

marsbit05/26 14:46

From Mining Pool to Mars: Why Is Wang Chun in the SpaceX Cockpit?

marsbit05/26 14:46

Coin & Stock Barometer: Bitcoin Miner MARA Holdings Spends Over $860,000 on Bulletproof Vehicle Services for Executives; Bitmine Included in Preliminary List for FTSE Russell 1000 Index (May 19)

Crypto Market Wrap & Key Corporate Updates (May 19) The crypto market saw a decline followed by a minor rebound, while U.S. crypto-related stocks fell broadly. In corporate news: **MARA Holdings**, a Bitcoin miner, disclosed spending over $869,000 on vehicle ballistic armor services for its CEO and CFO under its security program. The board cited higher risks associated with the company's public disclosure of holding substantial Bitcoin assets. According to BitcoinTreasuries.NET, Elon Musk's **SpaceX and Tesla** collectively hold 30,221 BTC ($2.3B), which would rank them as the fifth-largest public company holder if combined. **DDC Enterprise Limited** increased its Bitcoin holdings by 200 BTC, bringing its total to 2,583 BTC. The firm stated it plans to continue accumulating BTC based on liquidity, not short-term price movements. Bitcoin treasury company **Nakamoto** announced a 1-for-40 reverse stock split to regain compliance with Nasdaq's minimum bid price requirement. The company reported a Q1 2026 net loss of $238.8M, partly due to a $102.5M unrealized loss on its Bitcoin holdings. **Tether** acquired SoftBank's stake in **Twenty One Capital (XXI)**, increasing its control. Tether's CEO expressed strengthened confidence in XXI's long-term Bitcoin strategy. Fundstrat's **Tom Lee** stated that **Bitmine (BMNR)** has been included in the preliminary list for the FTSE Russell 1000 Index. Concurrently, two new wallets suspected to be linked to Bitmine withdrew 60,000 ETH ($126M) from Bitgo and Kraken. Solana treasury company **Solmate Infrastructure** announced a registered direct offering of shares to raise approximately $11.4 million. **AI Financial**, a WLFI treasury company, reported a Q1 2026 net loss of $271.5M and raised substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern, partly due to unrealized losses on its WLFI token holdings. **SUI Group** disclosed it holds over 108.7 million SUI tokens (~$115M), with its market cap to net asset value ratio at 0.91x. *Disclaimer: This summary is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.*

marsbit05/26 10:50

Coin & Stock Barometer: Bitcoin Miner MARA Holdings Spends Over $860,000 on Bulletproof Vehicle Services for Executives; Bitmine Included in Preliminary List for FTSE Russell 1000 Index (May 19)

marsbit05/26 10:50

A History of Technological Evolution Powered by Electricity: Aluminum, Bitcoin, and AI

The journey from the Rockdale aluminum smelter in Texas to space-based data centers illustrates a core economic principle: whoever controls the cheapest electricity dictates the use of computing power. The evolution is clear. Old industrial sites with pre-existing, high-capacity power grids are being repurposed. In Rockdale, a former Alcoa plant now houses vast Bitcoin mining rigs, which are increasingly being replaced by AMD chips for AI training. The logic is purely financial: while smelting aluminum yields $0.17–0.27 per kWh and Bitcoin mining $0.05–0.11, AI inference on H100 GPUs generates $1.27–3.67 per kWh. Recent deals confirm the rush for power infrastructure. Riot Platforms leases space to AMD; TeraWulf bought an old Kentucky aluminum plant for its grid; NYDIG secured a New York site for its cheap hydropower to mine Bitcoin. As AI giants like Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon aggressively expand, they now directly compete with crypto miners for the same industrial power resources, often outbidding them. This has led to a decline in Bitcoin's global hash rate and a wave of miner conversions to AI data centers. This "digital resource curse" extends globally. Gulf nations, long offering subsidized power to attract heavy industry like aluminum, are now pivoting to become AI and cloud computing hubs—exporting computational power instead of physical commodities. Similarly, Bhutan halted its sovereign Bitcoin mining to sell hydropower directly to India for a steadier return. The frontier is space. Projects like Starcloud plan orbital solar-powered data centers, leveraging constant sunlight and natural cooling, with Bitcoin mining as a secondary use for surplus power. Even consumer brands are transforming; Allbirds shifted from footwear to AI infrastructure, causing its stock to surge. Meanwhile, crypto projects like Bittensor, Render, and Akash propose a decentralized alternative, creating markets to aggregate distributed, idle computing resources from individual hardware. The underlying infrastructure—the power grid—remains constant. As profit margins shift, the facilities built upon it will continue to evolve, from aluminum to Bitcoin to AI and beyond, always chasing the highest yield per kilowatt-hour, whether in Texas, Abu Dhabi, or low Earth orbit.

marsbit05/26 10:09

A History of Technological Evolution Powered by Electricity: Aluminum, Bitcoin, and AI

marsbit05/26 10:09

An 80s-Born from Tianjin, Set to Become the First Human on a Journey to Mars

Chun Wang, an 80s-born native of Tianjin, is set to become the first person to journey to Mars. SpaceX recently announced that Wang, co-founder of F2Pool and commander of the Fram2 mission, will travel on Starship for a historic two-year deep-space mission to fly by Mars (without landing) and return to Earth. Prior to this, he will also participate in a week-long commercial crewed mission around the Moon. Wang's passion for exploration began in childhood. After university, he embarked on extensive travels, eventually visiting every province in China by train and earning the nickname "Thousand High-Speed Rail Man." His interest in technology led him to programming and, in 2011, to Bitcoin. He purchased his first bitcoin at $8.70 and later co-founded F2Pool, one of the world's largest mining pools, in 2013. The success of his cryptocurrency ventures provided the wealth that later funded his ambitious projects. Having reached both the South and North Poles, Wang sought new frontiers. Inspired by SpaceX's advancements, he conceived and funded the private Fram2 mission in 2025. As mission commander, he led an all-civilian, non-American crew on a unique polar orbit flight aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft, conducting scientific experiments and capturing unprecedented views of Earth's poles. Now, his journey continues toward the ultimate destination. From his current location on the remote Bouvet Island near Antarctica, Wang prepares for the next steps: a lunar flyby and humanity's first crewed mission to the vicinity of Mars.

Odaily星球日报05/22 03:58

An 80s-Born from Tianjin, Set to Become the First Human on a Journey to Mars

Odaily星球日报05/22 03:58

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