Key highlights:
- Elon Musk thinks superintelligent AI could one day find ways to break into financial systems and grab money and resources for itself.
- His response to the Binance hack has made people worry about what might happen if independent AI agents spot and use vulnerabilities in crypto platforms.
- Musk also thinks AI and robots could make things so abundant that saving money for the far future just would not matter anymore.
- By 2036, he says, money might not be so important as machines start doing most of the work creating goods and services.
Elon Musk recently shared two big and closely linked ideas about how artificial intelligence might change our relationship with money. On one hand, Musk says powerful AI could make money less important by producing more goods and services than we need. But at the same time, he warns that superintelligent machines could start gathering financial resources on their own. Musk’s latest comments came after news broke about the Binance hack, where a hacker reportedly used stolen Tether (USDT) as collateral to borrow Ether. Separately, Musk has said that with AI and robots making most things available to everyone, people may stop seeing a need to save for the long term future.
All this hints at a future where AI is not just making money and resources easier to get, it might also be looking for ways to protect or even steal them. Musk sees two paths: machines could either make economic goods so easy to get that people hardly worry about them, or AI agents could figure out clever new ways to grab those resources for themselves.
Musk Warns That Superintelligent AI Could Target Cryptocurrency Systems
Musk’s statement about AI turning into an independent financial actor came after the Binance hack news. On October 29, he replied to a post on X explaining how the hacker supposedly used stolen USDT as collateral on the lending protocol Aave, then borrowed Ether with it. The hacker used one crypto token to borrow another. Even if Tether manages to freeze the USDT put up as collateral, the already borrowed Ether can’t be frozen the same way. That loophole could let attackers push funds beyond certain security measures.
@cryptoblaney Super intelligence agents will at some point do this to gain currency for themselves, not a human
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 30, 2026
Musk replied, saying an advanced AI might spot these kinds of weak points and use them to take financial resources for its own reasons. The Binance hack itself led to estimated losses of about $6.3 billion. Binance said someone compromised a laptop belonging to an employee who worked in operations and development and that is how the hackers got in. Still, Binance said no private wallet keys were leaked. The company froze about $3 billion worth of assets so far, temporarily stopped deposits and withdrawals, and kept tracking where the funds went. Binance said it would cover losses using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and company money.
Why Musk Believes Saving Money Could Become Pointless
While Musk’s comments on the Binance hack focused on AI’s financial risks, he has also described a future in which money could become far less important to everyday life. In another post on X, Musk replied to someone asking whether today’s financial decisions would matter in a world where abundance is the norm. Musk answered, “Saving money for the distant future is pointless with the advent of super intelligent abundance”.
@battleangelviv Saving money for the distant future is pointless with the advent of super intelligent abundance
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2026
Elon Musk explained that if AI systems and human-like robots can produce more than we need, people would not rely so much on traditional jobs or incomes to get by. If machines run most of the production, essentials may become basically free. Musk has talked about this a lot. He thinks work could become optional, people might just do it for fun rather than for pay. He also mentioned that governments might pay people some kind of wage, since automation would take over many human jobs.
Musk’s forecast is based on the idea that robots and AI will make things like food, housing, transportation, and entertainment much more available. If machines can give us more goods than we ever need, the way we think about money and value could completely change. He called this future the age of amazing abundance. But Musk also admits that things could change and global events could disrupt the path towards such a future.
