There’s a guy who basically changed the history of cryptocurrencies twice—first with Mt. Gox, then with XRP—and now he’s doing something that sounds straight out of a science fiction movie. Jed McCaleb is fully funding a private space station out of his own pocket. No investors. No partners. Just him betting billions.

The company is called Vast. Founded in 2021, it’s building Haven-1, a space station that would fit inside a Falcon 9 rocket. It has capacity for four people and about 1,600 cubic feet of interior space—basically twice the size of an RV. Wooden walls, a big window, separate sleeping areas. It’s designed for short stays, not like the ISS.

The project could land him a NASA contract in 2026 that would be worth billions. If it doesn’t happen, Jed says he’s totally fine with losing $400 mil millones. That says a lot about his risk profile.

McCaleb’s history with cryptocurrencies is fascinating. He launched Mt. Gox in 2010, one of the first Bitcoin exchanges. He sold it in 2011. When it collapsed in 2014 and lost more than $1 millones, it was the biggest crypto failure in history until FTX blew up years later. But Jed was already on to something else: XRP.

He co-created the Ripple protocol and owned 9% of all XRP at launch. He had disagreements with his co-founders and left in 2013, but kept his XRP. From 2014 to 2022, he made around $3.2 billion by selling slowly. As of December 2024, he controlled $3.3 billion through two private foundations that he fully funded himself.

That’s the money he’s now putting into Vast. A 50-year-old guy, raised on a farm in Arkansas, who dropped out of Berkeley. He never worked in aerospace. He just has that talent for getting into new technologies early and getting out before everything turns chaotic.

Vast is working with SpaceX to launch Haven-1 in 2026. They reserved Falcon 9 slots, they’re using Dragon docking adapters, and Starlink Wi-Fi systems. SpaceX agreed to carry astronauts on behalf of Vast as long as NASA approves it.

NASA plans to retire the ISS by the end of 2030. Elon Musk says that schedule should be moved faster. Vast wants to be ready first. If they successfully launch Haven-1 and it works, they could win the contract to keep astronauts in orbit. That means a steady stream of money.

Jed hired Max Haot in 2023 as CEO. Max drives a Cybertruck. Jed drives a Model 3 and comes down from San Francisco once a week to check in. Vast grew from fewer than 200 people to 740 in the past year. Its Long Beach facility runs 24/7.

Competitors like Axiom Space and Blue Origin are also building stations. But Jed is spending his own money. That gives Vast a unique advantage. “Vast is the only one proposing a primarily self-funded, ready-to-operate solution,” said a Space Capital analyst.

Haven-1 is about 33 feet tall and 14.5 feet wide. Construction began in January, originally scheduled for August 2025 but delayed. Now they’re targeting May 2026. They’ve already tested a prototype to make sure it can withstand pressure. The team is now working on power, propulsion, and life support systems.

It won’t have the same systems as the ISS—no water or air recycling. It’s designed for short stays. If it works, Vast will send Haven-2 in 2028, the start of a bigger space station that could eventually replace the ISS entirely.

The next two years will determine everything. Haven-1 is still under construction. NASA is still reviewing. The contract decision is expected in mid-2026. Until then, Jed keeps betting mil millones that crypto money can build a space station. It’s a bold bet, but coming from someone who already changed the crypto landscape twice, it’s probably worth watching.