A Hawaiian stewardess who bet early and large on Bitcoin is now using her virtual currency to fly into space.

On Friday, she became the first person to buy a $250,000 Virgin Galactic space ticket using bitcoin, the world's most popular digital currency. So said the company's CEO, Sir Richard Branson, during an interview on CNBC. He didn't identify his latest Bitcoin-funded space tourist by name. Through Virgin Galactic, she declined our request for an interview.

Virgin Galactic says it has sold more than 600 tickets for its space tourism trips, which will offer customers an expensive but thrilling sub-orbital flight to the edge of space. The first flights are set to take off next year, Virgin says.

If you think about it, it's the perfect product for the tech savvy, risk-taking types who were early investors in Bitcoin. "A lot of people who got into Bitcoin quite early on have made a quite a lot of money and are also interested in getting into space," Branson said. "Virgina Galactic is a bold entrepreneurial technology – it's driving a revolution – and Bitcoin has been just the same."

A few yeas ago, you could buy a Bitcoin for pennies. Today, that's no longer the case. Not by a long shot.

On Monday, the value of a bitcoin peaked at over $900 on some exchanges before dropping to $600. Today, it's again closing in on $800, leading some to wonder if the currency is too volatile for real business transactions. Branson said that Virgin transferred the bitcoins into fiat currency immediately to lock in the ticket price.

So if the stewardess wants a refund, she'll get it in U.S. dollars rather than bitcoins.

Branson, who has himself invested in bitcoins, is bullish on the currency, which fits in nicely with his cutting-edge, risk-taking persona. "I think one day it will settle at a place which I personally believe will be higher than the price it's at today," he said.