Global e-commerce business, PayPal, wants to take their business to new heights. And by that we mean space.
The latest business opportunity the online payment giant is looking into, is to figure out how commerce and payments will operate beyond Earth.
PayPal is convinced that this is a serious matter – especially once space tourism and travel eventually take off.
The company has announced that they are launching a new initiative called “˜PayPal Galactic‘
They plan to launch this other worldly initiative with the help of the non-profit, SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. They also seem to have the backing of the Space Tourism Industry – an industry group that is solely focused on space travel.
PayPal further said that the goal of the new initiative, is to figure out exactly how commerce will work up in space.
David Marcus, the president of PayPal, has said that the company is not taking this initiative lightly and is very serious about the idea. Even though space travel and tourism was once a unrealistic fantasy idea, Mr. Marcus said that it is now becoming a reality.
Mr. Marcus continued: “œThere are lots of important questions that the industry needs to answer. We feel that it‘s important for us to start the conversation and find answers. We don‘t have that much time.“
These questions would include how commerce will be regulated and what currency will be used. There are regulatory and technical issues, along with safety and even what cross-border trade will look like – especially when you consider that there aren‘t a lot of borders in space.
PayPal, which is eBay Incorporated‘s payment business since 2002, certainly has some connections to outer space; one of the Californian business‘ founders, Elon Musk, is the head of SpaceX – a privately held space company that is actually called Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
James Doohan, who is probably best known for his role as “œScotty“ on “œStar Trek,“ was, ironically, PayPal‘s first official spokesman when it launched 14 years ago in 1999.
However, the first hurdle for anyone looking to tour space, would be to afford a ticket – never mind purchasing souvenirs!
Source: mybroadband.co.za
