It seems the financial problems for Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company if you can believer it, won’t go away without radical change. The once high-flying project of eccentric billionaires with grand ideas began experiencing debt problems, unsurprisingly, which led it to auction off some of its asteroid mining equipment. However, new reports reveal that ConsenSys has acquired Planetary Resources in a complete takeover deal.
In an official statement, Planetary Resources announced that the deal involved an asset-purchase transaction. As part of the deal, the asteroid mining company’s top management will join ConsenSys. These include Chris Lewicki, President & CEO of Planetary Resources, and Brian Israel, the General Counsel.
Expanding humanity’s economic sphere of influence
Commenting on the acquisition, Lewicki said that it brings new promise that the company will continue doing what it should. Further, he is confident that the acquisition will encourage the team to pioneer technology for man’s benefit.
“I am proud of our team’s extraordinary accomplishments, grateful to our visionary supporters, and delighted to join ConsenSys in building atop our work to expand humanity’s economic sphere of influence into the Solar System,” Lewicki added.
On his part, ConsenSys founder Joe Lubin admires Planetary Resources’ talent pool and their innovation capability. Further, he believes that the company will still inspire people to support its “bold vision for the future.”
“Bringing deep space capabilities into the ConsenSys ecosystem reflects our belief in the potential for Ethereum to help humanity craft new societal rule systems through automated trust and guaranteed execution,” Lubin, who is also the co-founder of Ethereum said.
Blockchain meets space as ConsenSys acquires Planetary Resources
In particular, Lubin notes that the new societal rule systems support the fundamental principles of blockchain. Therefore, it is almost a natural process as ConsenSys acquires Planetary Resources, Lubin explains.
“It reflects our belief in democratizing and decentralizing space endeavors to unite our species and unlock untapped human potential,” he concludes.
In essence, the new company will now leverage blockchain and smart contracts to make space exploration better. Interestingly, Planetary Resources first announced the plans for asteroid mining in 2012. Specifically, the company said it would conduct the exercise in stealth mode. Further, the company’s list of initial investors consists of only billionaires. They range from Google co-founder Larry Page to billionaire Richard Branson.
