- Elon Musk stated that wealth has no intrinsic power and money is just a database
- He explained money facilitates exchange of goods and services and time-shifts them
- Musk used a shipwreck analogy to illustrate money’s uselessness without goods
A resurfaced clip of Elon Musk saying that wealth holds no intrinsic power has gained fresh traction online after the billionaire responded “Yes” to the footage. The interview dates back to April 2022, shortly after Musk revealed plans to acquire Twitter.
“People get confused sometimes, they think an economy is money, but money is a database for the exchange of goods and services and for time-shifting the exchange of goods and services. Money is a database. Money does not have power in and of itself,” Musk said in the video.
“You can run the thought experiment: if you are shipwrecked on a remote island and you have a trillion dollars in a Swiss bank account, it's worthless. You would rather have a can of soup. You can have all the Bitcoin in the world and you're still going to starve. The actual economy is goods and services,” he added.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2026
The post generated several reactions. A person said, “Money is just simply an abstraction to make it easier to commodify things and exchange with each other. No amount of zeros will change whether your economy produces enough goods and services to meet people's needs efficiently. Zimbabwe learned that the hard way.”
Money is just simply an abstraction to make it easier to commodify things and exchange with each other. No amount of zeros will change whether your economy produces enough goods and services to meet people's needs efficiently. Zimbabwe learned that the hard way. pic.twitter.com/Sv8sDf0CN6
— Adam Lowisz X Meetup 🇺🇸🇵🇱🇪🇺🇬🇧🇺🇦 (@AdamLowisz) January 16, 2026
Another user wrote, “Real money is something that has Monetary value. The world is finally a barter system - Exchange of Goods and Services. Money is just an artificial construct as a via media. Exceptions are GOLD and SILVER, which have great Utilities and are the Real Money, as JP Morgan said.”
Real money is something that has Monetary value. World is finally a barter system - Exchange of Goods and Services .. money is just an artificial construct as a via media ..
— RapperPandit (@RapperPandit) January 16, 2026
Exception is GOLD and SILVER - which have great Utilities and are the Real Money as JP Morgan Said :- pic.twitter.com/t7oJARYhlX
Musk's comments assume importance against the backdrop of debates surrounding cryptocurrencies, interest rate and investments in AI. The tech mogul underlines that the “actual economy is goods and services.”
🚨 ELON: "MONEY IS A DATABASE FOR THE EXCHANGE OF GOODS AND SERVICES”
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 16, 2026
Elon just said something that's so simple but kinda mind-blowing: the actual economy isn't money, it's the stuff people make and do like food, energy, products, and services.
Money's just the scoreboard… pic.twitter.com/g0LvWKmR30
“Money's just the scoreboard keeping track of who gets what. He makes it a point to not get so wrapped up in arguments about inflation, crypto, interest rates, etc., as the real economy is production,” entrepreneur Mario Nawfal posted on X.
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