Former Ripple founder McCaleb traps 1 billion USD XRP, collaborating with Musk's SpaceX to explore the battlefield in space.

Jed McCaleb, co-founder of Stellar and Ripple (, has previously sold XRP for more than 2 billion dollars. After that, McCaleb shifted his focus to the space battlefield and invested 1 billion dollars to establish the space company Vast. In an interview with Bloomberg on April 1, he stated that Vast’s goal is to launch the first private space station Haven-1 into space by 2026 and secure a contract with NASA, the largest funder in the space sector. He is also collaborating with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch spacecraft, with the hope of participating in Mars missions in the future.

Jumping from the crypto world to space, McCaleb invests $1 billion to expand humanity’s future.

Jed McCaleb, co-founder of Stellar and Ripple, has exited the cryptocurrency space after dumping approximately $2 billion worth of XRP. Following this, McCaleb founded the space company Vast, aiming to challenge the limits of humanity by focusing on sending humans to live in space at a lower cost.

Vast currently has 650 employees and is hiring 10 more people per week, more than 70% of which are in engineering and manufacturing.

More than half of the net assets are dedicated to the McCaleb Haven-1 project on Vast: launching the first space station in 2026, intending to be 5 times faster and 5 times cheaper than others.

Vast’s primary goal is to launch its own space station, Haven-1, by May 2026 and participate in NASA’s Commercial LEO Development ) bidding process. This project aims to replace the International Space Station (, which is set to be decommissioned in 2030, with the selected candidate receiving a long-term contract from NASA.

Vast’s strategy is quite aggressive: “As long as I get in first, NASA has no choice but to give me the contract.”

In 2028, Haven-2 will be expanded to replace the ISS, with the interior designed by a former Apple designer.

Vast is not only planning Haven-1, but also plans to launch the first module of Haven-2 in 2028, while gradually expanding into a complete commercial space platform.

Haven-1 peripheral components

The overall design is advised by designer Peter Russell-Clarke, who worked at Apple for 25 years, emphasizing a minimalist style and practicality.

One part makes three spares, just to save time and not afraid of failure.

When the reporter visited the Vast factory, there were many large components on site, such as hatch doors, windows, and internal pressure vessels, as well as multi-layered partitions to prevent meteorite impacts.

To save time, they make three spare parts for every one component, allowing for immediate replacement without interrupting the assembly progress.

Vast’s self-built space capsule doors, from acquiring rocket startups to self-manufacturing parts, Vast is fully vertically integrated.

Vast also acquired a rocket manufacturer called Launcher and followed the model of SpaceX and Blue Origin to build its own supply chain, not relying on third-party vendors. Parts that cannot be purchased on the market, such as specialized docking ports for space stations, are all developed in-house.

Although the two test satellites launched by Launcher previously encountered problems in outer space, Vast still chose to continue developing its own hardware.

Former NASA astronaut joins the team, optimistic about Vast’s potential to come true.

Former NASA astronaut Drew Feustel joins the Vast team as a technical advisor. He has performed repair missions on the Hubble Space Telescope and has a deep understanding of “how to live comfortably in space.”

Feustel also leads a sleep system that simulates Earth’s gravity, helping astronauts to sleep better.

The picture shows reporters testing a new sleep system developed in collaboration with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is expected to participate in Mars missions in the future.

Vast has also signed a launch contract with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to use the Falcon 9 to send its own Haven-1 into orbit, with engineers on board for testing.

The two parties have a close cooperation, and Vast even expressed hope to participate in a Mars mission together in the future.

Vast’s collaboration with SpaceX is illustrated in a diagram. NASA plans to select the winning company in 2026, and Vast believes that “if we don’t win, we can’t survive.”

Together bidding for the NASA ) contract, the vendors include teams led by Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Voyager, and Vast, which previously worked on the International Space Station (. Vast admitted: “If we don’t win the NASA contract, we have no market.”

This also highlights that, no matter how lively the space industry is, NASA remains the biggest financial backer and endorser.

Vast aims to secure NASA contracts by 2026.

This article discusses former Ripple founder McCaleb trapping 1 billion USD in XRP, collaborating with Musk’s SpaceX to explore the battlefield in space. It first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.