The evolution and biophysical economics of energy currencies: from prebiotic electrochemistry to modern digital money

Abstract

The research analyses the evolution of ‘energy currencies’ from proto-metabolic electrochemistry to modern digital economies, theorising future prospects for their development. It examines electrons, hydrogen species (H₂, H⁻, H⁺), acetyl phosphate (AcP), and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as universal biological energy carriers/currencies. The analysis highlights the fundamental role of electric charge (electricity) across biological and social systems, arguing that electrons (e⁻), protons (H⁺), and ions (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, etc.) serve as critical mediators in the transduction of (electric) energy and information. The study augments the theoretical framework of biophysical economics by examining bioenergetics and the evolution of living organisms through the lens of an ‘energy economy’ and its ‘energy currencies’. The human biophysical economy is conceptualised here as an extension of the bioeconomy inherent to living systems, which co-opts analogous natural energy currencies (e.g., electricity). The novelty of the research resides in the development of unified theory of energy currencies that spans three distinct fields: biological approaches that metaphorically refer to certain forms of energy or energy processes as a ‘currency’; social approaches that construe money as a form or analogy of energy (‘virtual energy’), and economic concepts that propose to deploy energy as universal commodity money in trade. It is emphasized that the advent of modern digital currencies has become a critical juncture in the evolution of energy-based currencies, wherein ‘virtual energy’ reverts to an ‘electric flow’, merging energy and currency with ‘information flow’.