Luxembourg Pivots Right Out of Planetary Resources’ Investment
The government of Luxembourg’s investment in asteroid miner turned block chainer Planetary Resources is over, the Luxembourg Times reports.
The Luxembourg government sold its 10% stake in US space firm Planetary Resources ahead of its takeover by blockchain venture ConsenSys.
ConsenSys announced on Wednesday it had acquired Planetary Resources through an asset-purchase transaction.
The Luxembourg government first took a stake in the company in 2016, when the Economy Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding and agreed to invest €25 million.
The Luxembourg government has also invested in Planetary Resources’ rival, Deep Space Industries.
3 responses to “Luxembourg Pivots Right Out of Planetary Resources’ Investment”
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Sadly, neither the market or the technology is ready for mining asteroids. The first profits from space resources will come from recovery of lunar materials.
However Planetary Resources does deserve a place in history by its successful lobbying for the Space Resources Act of 2015 and the passage of a similar law in Luxembourg that created a favorable legal environment for the recovery of space resources.
Using Kickstarter for a company “backed” by Google founders and a list of long list of wealthy individuals seemed more than a little odd…
I actually really liked that effort. Here’s why. They needed work, and engaged the public, and the public responded. It was important for them to succeed and carry through. Had they succeeded it could have opened a new venue for making jobs here and there. Being one of this list’s designated evil Lefty, I like make work projects. Given how history played out, I’m afraid anyone else who tries this is going to have to make up the ground lost in PR’s effort.