Elon Musk Says Money Will Become Obsolete, Suggests Energy And Bitcoin Could Take Over

Elon Musk predicted that money’s role in everyday life will eventually become obsolete and suggested that energy and Bitcoin may replace it as the most important measures of wealth and power.

During a recent podcast interview with Indian entrepreneur and investor Nikhil Kamath, Musk said he believes that eventually, “money disappears as a concept.” 

Money Will Be Obsolete In A Future Where Anyone Can Have Anything, Says Musk

Musk said that a future where money is no longer an important part of daily life is a “strange” idea to wrap one’s head around. But he argued that in a future where “anyone can have anything,” people will no longer need money as a database of labor allocation.” 

He linked his vision to the rapid advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) technology and robotics.

“If AI and robotics are big enough to satisfy all human needs then, then money is no longer… its relevance declines dramatically,” he said. 

Influencing Musk’s vision of a future where money is not necessary is the Culture series books by Scottish author Iain Banks, which the billionaire recommended people read. 

In the future seen in those books, the characters don’t have money, “and everyone can pretty much have whatever they want,” Musk said. 

Energy Will Be The New Money

While money might not matter as much in the future, there will be some forms of value that will retain their importance. These “fundamental currencies” will be “physics-based,” Musk said. 

He linked that to energy, which the billionaire argued is “the true currency,” while pointing out that Bitcoin is “based on energy,” giving it a major advantage over traditional fiat currencies that governments can print at will. 

Bitcoin’s energy nature stems from how the Bitcoin network achieves consensus without the need for centralized intermediaries. Specialized hardware, called miners, constantly monitor the network and process transactions that take place on the Bitcoin blockchain. This process is energy intensive. 

For their work in validating transactions, miners are rewarded with new BTC and a portion of the fees collected by the network for a given time.

“You can’t legislate energy,” he said. “You can’t just, you know, pass a law and suddenly have a lot of energy.” He then pointed out that it is difficult to generate energy, especially when it comes to harnessing it “in a useful way.” 

“We probably will just have energy, power generation as the de facto currency,” he said. 

If that is the case, whoever controls the most efficient energy and has the most abundant energy resources will effectively control the strongest “currency,” he added. 

Bitcoin Price Tumbles

Following Musk’s comments, the Bitcoin price has declined by more than 4% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap, amid a broader crypto market pullback attributed by some analysts to thin liquidity. 

BTC price (Source: CoinMarketCap)

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