World's Richest Man Elon Musk Says Money Will Be Useless by 2036
Elon Musk has once again shaken the world with a seemingly absurd prediction. In just ten years, precisely by 2036, money will no longer hold any significant meaning for humanity. In an exclusive interview with The Economist’s editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX expressed his belief that the world will enter an era of ‘abundance’ thanks to the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. ‘What do you need money for? Money is used to obtain goods and services—food, shelter, transportation, entertainment. If robots and AI can provide more goods and services than humans can consume, then money becomes useless,’ Musk said. Elon Musk is currently the richest person in the world. According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth stands at US$725.1 billion, largely derived from his shares in Tesla and SpaceX. However, this bold statement comes amid Musk’s track record of frequently missing targets and forecasts over the years. Although considered one of the most influential figures in technology, Musk is known for often setting overly optimistic deadlines that ultimately fail to be met. Some key examples include: driverless cars—in 2015, he promised a fully self-driving feature would be completed by 2018, yet as of 2026, the technology remains in testing and cannot operate without human supervision; in 2019, he even assured that one million Tesla autonomous taxis would be operating by 2020, but none have yet run on a wide commercial scale. Mars missions—Musk once stated humans would land on Mars by 2024 or 2026; that target has now been pushed back to 2028 at the earliest. The Hyperloop high-speed train project—proposed in 2013 with a promise of speeds up to 1,100 km/h connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco in a short time, the project was ultimately abandoned with no commercial line built. The takeover of X (formerly Twitter)—when he bought the platform in 2022, he pledged to turn it into an ‘everything app’ like WeChat, purge fake accounts, and boost advertising revenue; in reality, advertising revenue has plummeted and the vision remains unrealised. Musk also reiterated his view that ‘energy is the true currency’. He argues that fiat money issued by states is easily manipulated in value, whereas energy cannot be engineered. This view has sparked speculation of Musk’s tacit support for crypto assets, particularly Bitcoin. Currently, SpaceX is reported to hold 18,712 Bitcoin, while Tesla holds 11,509 Bitcoin. Combined at a current price of around US$65,000 per coin, the value of both assets reaches nearly US$2 billion. Musk also cited the global race to develop AI as the reason why the prices of gold, silver, and Bitcoin have risen in recent years. Even so, Bitcoin’s price has moved sideways this year and briefly slumped below US$65,000 last February.