“Money Will Become Irrelevant”: Elon Musk Predicts a Currency-Free Future and Reveals What Will Happen to His Billions

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has predicted that money could eventually lose its meaning and that his enormous fortune may largely disappear over time.

According to the billionaire, advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and space exploration will lead to the emergence of an interplanetary economy in which traditional currency will no longer play the same role.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief shared his vision of the future in an interview with biographer Walter Isaacson for The Builders podcast.

“Money will become irrelevant. Some form of currency will still exist, but I think it will be measured in fundamental physical quantities — power, mass and energy. That’s my prediction,” Musk explained, adding that he considers this scenario fairly obvious.

In his view, artificial intelligence and robots will eventually be able to perform any task better than humans. Freed from the need to work, people will likely seek meaning through their hobbies — whether growing their own fruit and vegetables or creating works of art.

What Will Happen to Musk’s Fortune?

Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire following SpaceX’s stock market debut in June, topped the Bloomberg Billionaires Index at Monday’s market close with an estimated fortune of around $920 billion.

In the interview, the entrepreneur explained that most of his wealth is tied to his stakes in SpaceX and Tesla. He said he needs to retain substantial shareholdings in both companies to preserve his voting power and remain in control of their businesses.

At the same time, Musk acknowledged that his fortune will gradually shrink as taxes take their toll.

“My wealth will be taxed substantially. There’s no magic way to avoid taxes — if there were, I would know about it,” the billionaire said.

He also suggested that, several generations from now, his descendants may inherit only a small fraction of his current fortune.

“My wealth will gradually diminish, and in a few generations, my descendants will have only a tiny fraction of what I have today — assuming money even matters by then. And I don’t think it will,” Musk said.

The entrepreneur also discussed how he would like his foundation’s resources to be used after his death. Among his main goals, he named transforming humanity into an interplanetary civilization, extending consciousness beyond Earth and advancing sustainable energy.