Forget Frequent Flyer Miles, You Can Now Use Bitcoins on Virgin Galactic

Crazy Uncle Branson. (Photo: CNBC)

Oh great, you can finally do something useful with all those bitcoins laying around: leave this god forsaken planet. Sir Richard Branson announced today that his space airline Virgin Galactic will accept the virtual current when it launches next August.

Appearing on CNBC this morning from his bunker in Bedrock Necker Island, Sir Branson said the airline accepted its first bitcoin purchase from a woman in Hawaii. He said the airline, which technically only flies into suborbital space, transferred the money into cash so they'll be able to refund her money if she changes her mind on the $250,000 (or roughly 321 bitcoins) ticket.

In a blog post, he said that more people "will follow in her footsteps" and repeated his praise of the Monopoly money on CNBC. "Virgin Galactic is a bold entrepreneurial technology. It's driving a revolution. And bitcoin is doing just the same when it comes to inventing a new currency."

Despite the currency's weekly price swings of 80 percent, he believes that we're going to actually use this fake money in the future. "There have been spikes and lows. But I think one day it will settle at a price that, I personally believe, is higher than the price today."

Sir Branson didn't clarify if the buy-on-board snack program will also accept bitcoins.