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Q&A

Backing Futuristic "Credits" with Energy?

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A lot of worldbuilders that I know and have spoken too, insist that unbacked currencies and items with constantly changing values would be what the economy is based on. I, however, am skeptical of this.

Now, I am aware from reading lots of Atomic Rockets and my education, that in space pretty much any material resource isn't going to be terribly expensive. Gold could be made worthless, with the resources and technology one would use to get to Pluto in a few days.

I, however, own a few books about writing sci-fi and have books on history. I know that whoever controls the source of energy for each Era, stands to be the most powerful nation, empire, or faction in that Era. I know that pretty much every single nation values oil, and despite it going up and down in supply and price, there is always a huge demand for it. I know that oil companies do well on the Fortune 500 and Global 500.

Would it be feasible to back currency with energy, assuming I could hold all of the energy produced in a storage medium that didn't leak too fast?

Energy is used to get raw materials, energy makes them into finished goods, energy moves them from place to place, energy powers the tools to make buildings, it cools the houses, it warms the houses, it powers the lamps for the indoor farms, and it's used to make fertilizer for the outdoor farms.

If I can't back it with energy, can I back it with anything? Can currency be backed feasibly by people who travel from system to system in days or hours?

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This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/118853. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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