Imagine this: You turn off your radio, bolt your doors, and head down the road to trade a few gold antiques for a crate of canned beans and a barrel of clean water. These items will sustain you in your travels and can be traded for other goods and services — mainly transportation — along the way. From the airfield that still operates from time to time, you boot up your mobile device, which you keep charged just for moments like this.
You transfer your digital coins to the pilot, who will take you to one of the last bastions of urban living, a place rigged on an independent power grid and populated by citizens of the world from every walk of life. There, digital coins are the main trade currency since people come from all over, bringing what they can. The post-apocalyptic world demands money that isn’t tied to nations and ideologies.
Is this the future? Maybe, and maybe not. All anyone can say for certain is that complicated and troublesome times will come just as they always have. For individuals, families, and businesses that hope to thrive in any circumstances — post-apocalyptic or otherwise — this requires preparation and investment in the future. We can’t know what currencies will be commonly accepted when SHTF, but we can be sure that alternative currencies will dominate trade.
So to be best prepared, it helps to keep a working inventory of the alternative currencies that might influence post-apocalyptic commerce. From cryptocurrencies to goods that could become more valuable than gold, it’s all but a guarantee that we’ll be using alternatives to the money systems of the modern world order.
These are the currencies that could determine the nature of post-apocalyptic commerce.
1. Cryptocurrencies
Right now, cryptocurrencies are the biggest players in the alternative currency game. These digital assets are a revolutionary method of conducting business in a global society while retaining some of the benefits of cash. But how is this possible, and how would this help in a post-apocalyptic scenario?
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin operate on decentralized networks known as blockchains. The blockchain stores transaction data in individual nodes all linked through cryptographic hashes. This means that for someone to hack a single node, they have to hack in and alter the entire blockchain or control more than 50% of the chain. This makes altering or stealing data from a blockchain much more difficult than with traditional financial technology (fintech).
Additionally, blockchain offers a global solution. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what the currency of the nation is, you can use a digital coin without needing to convert your currency or pay a transaction fee.
Cryptocurrencies also keep personal information secure in a similar fashion, making these currencies the choice for anyone wanting both privacy and the ability to track their own financial data on a secure network. Since crypto can be kept and tracked in a digital wallet locked by private keys, this asset can act like a money stash, available in an emergency.
And cryptocurrencies are an investment opportunity in themselves. While the value of popular coins fluctuates, the overall trend of digital coins is an upward one. Should nations collapse and their official currencies lose all value, the global nature of cryptocurrency makes it a safer bet than traditional money.
But how could cryptocurrency be used in the post-apocalypse?
Assuming all internet connectivity and functionality is wiped out, it can’t. However, it would take a very specific kind of apocalypse to make that happen. Instead, what is more likely are localized destabilization and economic collapse events that reshape the structure and liveability of the world, leaving at least pockets of technology and wireless connectivity intact.
If that’s the case, then bastions of civilization may be the perfect place for crypto usage. Thriving communities that have managed to stave off the worst of the apocalypse could incorporate cryptocurrencies as means of giving refugees a new life and rebuilding society.
Proof of concept for crypto functionality like this already exists. During the Syrian refugee crisis, for example, nonprofit organizations worked to supply refugees with Bitcoin-based Visa debit cards that could follow them wherever they ended up. This proved incredibly helpful to many who had to relocate due to apocalyptic circumstances in their home country.
While it might be a bit of a stretch, a society attempting to recover from a global crisis could be greatly served by utilizing some form of cryptocurrency. Newcomers arriving from all over could trade in whatever valuable goods and salvage they might have for an immutable currency that they could then use within a rebuilding community. Such a system could even bridge various communities of survivors to get the world back on a path to recovery.
2. Non-Fungible Tokens
In addition to blockchain-based currencies are non-fungible tokens. Not quite interchangeable like true currency should be, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) represent data stored on a digital ledger that validates their uniqueness and authenticity. There are NFTs for just about every medium, from videos to artwork to audio, and this type of commodity might even be influential in the event of an apocalypse.
Consider a world in which digital goods and media have become largely inaccessible to the broader public. Music, movies, art, television shows, and more would be hard to come by and thus more valuable than ever to the survivors of a cataclysmic event. With even limited access to a blockchain, however, a new form of trade could emerge through the marketplace of NFTs.
NFTs have soared in value, accruing $2 billion in sales in the first quarter of 2021 alone. These digital goods signify commodities as well as the licenses to use, copy, or display them. Because cryptographic storage on blockchain technology adds security and ownership authentication to the storage of digital goods, these artifacts can also be traded on a digital marketplace at will.
For a society attempting to come back from the edge of extinction, NFTs could play an important role in trade, particularly when it comes to entertainment. Escape-starved survivors might look for solace in the digital goods of an easier time or simply desire an engaging way to pass the hours until their next working shift.
NFTs allow a peer-to-peer marketplace to emerge on a blockchain, enabling a community to engage in bartering and trade with the assistance of technology. As a post-apocalyptic society struggles to pick up the pieces of a ravaged world, it’s not impossible to imagine these immutable digital goods becoming a staple of commerce — given such a society still has the means to use them.
Perhaps a day will come when you trade your wages from working on a community farm or fencing project for access to your favorite movie on an NFT. Perhaps you’ll even pay to convert your family photos and mementos to NFT form so that you’ll be able to access them no matter where you go. Who knows what society will decide.
So while NFTs aren’t exactly a currency in themselves, they have the potential to serve as an alternative form of commerce in a post-apocalyptic society. If access to digital goods and technology is still possible, some form of trade like this is likely. If not, plenty of other commodities might stand in for currency and commerce.
3. Salt (and other basic staples)
This brings us to salt, the original currency. While you may be investing in all kinds of precious minerals when building a lucrative retirement account, you likely haven’t considered salt–and other food staples–as a fundamental resource for your future. If an apocalypse occurs, however, these supplies, including salt, may just make its way back to being a foundational currency utilized by society.
Way back in Roman times, salt was a precious commodity that miners lived and died to produce. Salt, in fact, was so vital and valuable that sometimes soldiers were paid in salt. Even the word ‘salary’ is thought to have derived from the Latin word salarium, whose definitions included money given to purchase salt.
Of course, any prepper worth their weight in gold (or salt, pun intended) should understand the value of this commodity should the world go belly-up. Salt is used in everything from cleaning to medical treatments, but one of its most important functions is its ability to preserve meat without refrigeration.
In the apocalypse, you can pretty much count on consistent power being hard to come by. This means keeping your food fresh will be a battle that will take all your resources to win. Salt will play a vital role in food preservation, seasoning, and societal status just like it did in the past. Therefore, using it as a currency only makes sense.
In ancient Rome salt was commonly used as a currency with which to facilitate trades. It was measured in standardized units and formed the backbone of many commercial ventures. On the opposite side of the word, evidence suggests Mayans were doing the same thing, using salt as a standardized currency that then made food preservation and preparation possible.
In the event of societal collapse around the world, there’s no reason why salt won’t make a comeback as a significant currency. After all, refrigeration and safe food will be scarce in just about any world-ending scenario. To survive, what’s left of humanity will have to coordinate its resources to guarantee safe food supplies. This requires salt.
While you might take salt for granted now, stockpiling some just in case isn’t a bad idea. This, in addition to other resources that may not seem valuable now, could set you up for survival and even prosperity in a world that has taken a turn for the worse.
And, of course, don’t ignore other basic staples like grains, dry beans, rice, other seasonings besides salt, white vinegar, baking soda, and cornstarch.
4. Water
Nothing is as vital to life as water. This is a truth known and felt all over the world, especially in places where safe drinking water is hard to come by. Globally, more than 663 million people don’t have regular access to clean water, and this leads to disease, death, and cycles of violent poverty as human beings struggle to survive.
Access to safe water will be much rarer should a world-shattering disaster befall the Earth. This will transform the necessary resource many of us use without a second thought into a commodity worth going to war for. In such an eventuality, those with water will have the ability to negotiate and bargain for whatever else they might need among a populace desperate for clean water.
Water is already a type of currency even if we fail to think of it as such. We use it to purchase thriving crops, bustling cities, and convenient lifestyles. We even use it to grow neat, green lawns that serve no purpose beyond looks. Those with access to water have access to more safety and prosperity than those without, and this already puts the world on an uneven footing.
When worst comes to worst, water availability will determine who survives and who doesn’t. This makes water a natural choice of currency whose value will remain strong during post-apocalyptic attempts to rebuild societies all over the world.
Even the COVID-19 pandemic proved the importance of having water on hand for storage and access as preppers practiced self-isolation and social distancing. In those early days of the pandemic, water bottle sales in the U.S. soared by 52.5%. Consumers feared for how long they might be isolated in their homes and stockpiled the critical resource. In some instances, reliably clean bottled water became hard to find on store shelves — along with toilet paper.
Now imagine not having access to water the way some people had no access to toilet paper during the panic-buying stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. This fear all but guarantees that water will be a valuable currency in the markets of an apocalyptic Earth.
To prepare for a safe and financially secure future, having a supply of clean water is a must. [The editor recommends five gallons of stored water per person per day. Thus, a family of four would need roughly 600 gallons of stored water to see them through a month, that’s roughly two IBC totes or 11 55-gallon barrels.]
5. Weapons and Ammunition
[Editors note: I strongly disagree with trading guns or ammo for almost any reason. You’ll clearly be less capable of defending yourself after doing so and, worse, you’re just asking for them to be used against you. Come up with something else of value to trade if at all possible.]
Last but not least, weapons and ammunition might serve as a significant currency in the event of societal collapse. After all, no one wants to go without protection should anarchy be loosed upon the world. If an apocalypse occurs, gathering weapons and ammo will be one of the first concerns on many peoples’ minds.
The use of weapons and ammo as currency is a popular trope of survival video games and fiction. As one of the most pressing concerns of a disaster-stricken world, self-preservation against any who might resort to violence to take what you have is valuable in itself.
Additionally, weapons and ammo can be used to hunt food or protect the other resources and currencies you have stashed. In the olden days, people had to rely on protections like these as well as burying their goods in the ground to keep them out of the hands of thieves. With banks no longer operating in a collapsing society, you’ll have to acquire the means for protecting your goods and making lucrative trades all on your own. You’ll be hard-pressed to do this without some form of weapon.
While it will be necessary to keep some weapons and ammunition for yourself, any excess you acquire would no doubt be a powerful bargaining chip in any trade. This makes these tools excellent forms of currency for a world run-amok.
Determining the Future of Post-Apocalyptic Commerce
No one can predict the future, but the probability of a society-ending event makes prepping for such an occasion a good idea. One of the key concerns on any prepper’s mind should be the way you’ll barter and trade for the resources you need to survive and rebuild.
Right now, digital alternative currencies are showing promise should the nations and borders we now live in collapse into disrepair. With these tools, survivors may come together with ease and convenience.
But traditional goods will not lose their value, either. Salt as well as other basic staples, water, and even weapons and ammunition are all necessities of a post-apocalyptic reality, and each would make a possible alternative currency if worse comes to worst. Consider such alternatives now and diversify your own preparations while you still can.
[Note: This was a guest post.]
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