Built with the goal of democratising access to space, Alpha Persei is a decentralised funding and governance structure that uses DLT to create new financing opportunities for space projects.
In 2021, when the hype of the metaverse was at its peak, Harry Ghillemyn, an economist by training and a lawyer by profession was perplexed by the fact that so many people were pouring money into these virtual worlds that had yet to prove their value.
“I did not understand why so many people were investing so much money and time into the metaverse, a complete virtual world which does not exist, while at the same time ignoring the possibilities of the universe,” explains Harry, a member of Alpha Persei’s legal and governance team and legal advisor to The Moon Village Association.
That’s why Harry, along with his co-founder Dr Erik Falk founded Alpha Persei in order to “render the universe more accessible and democratic to a wider range of people”. Organized under the form of an open DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), Alpha Persei, allows anyone to join the community and propose and invest in space projects by joining its Discord channel.
“Nowadays, if you go to space, you have to either be a space agency or very wealthy, like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, so it’s a very exclusive industry.”
Haryy Ghillemyn, lawyer and part of Alpha Persei’s legal and governance team.
Community-oriented
Along with its +100 strong community on Discord, Alpha Persei has already invested in multiple space projects. Currently, Alpha Persei is commercialising, in collaboration with Dutch Foundation Moon Gallery, the first piece of scientific art that went to the International Space Station and back to Earth. Being built on a decentralised governance model, all space projects submitted on Alpha Persei are automatically submitted to the community which then collectively decides on cost coverage, profit distribution and its ethical and strategic aspects.
“It is an open company in the sense that it really belongs to the community, economically speaking. Everybody can make proposals voted on by the community to direct the ship in one way or another. We are drawing a lot of interest, particularly from space players located in the United States where these types of collaboration become more common,” explains Harry.
Participation in these projects is predicated on the buying of Alpha Persei tokens which will be issued through the platform in early 2024. “The more tokens you have, the more you can invest, so it’s pretty much like a stock exchange.” The profits of the projects are redistributed to the community on the same basis.
Alpha Persei also launched an independent and free Space Legal & Governance Blog under the name of “Pulsar”.
Space for everyone
This summer, Alpha Persei will continue its Astronaut NFT sale (its membership token), working on its web and mobile apps, while exploring pilot funding opportunities. Towards the end of the year, the community aims to apply for the appropriate licenses, launch its space project tenders, a wallet and as well as its investor club.
“We want to make space for everyone and give access to this world that everyone dreams of but has not been accessible to most of us,” says Harry.
Haryy Ghillemyn, lawyer and part of Alpha Persei’s legal and governance team.
