How the heck did we go from one kind of funny money (paper with no gold backing) to another. Someone says here, I have a set amount of digital money. The amount will never increase so the price depends on how much is sold and held. Go for it! And they did. So others started other digital currencies...
As far as I know, Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are just another form of fiat currency. If a real EMP occurred, crypto would vanish, but then most of what you have in the bank and in investments would as well. Your cash in hand would still exist, and any precious metal and other commodities held onsite would remain, as would real estate, although many real estate records would go away unless you had hard copies of them stashed.
If a catastrophic EMP hits, money of any kind is going to be worthless very quickly. Only "trade goods" will have value. Forget your gold and silver coins and ingots and your diamond jewelry. If you can't eat it, keep warm with it, wear it, drink it, smoke it, get drunk on it, ride it, or cure diseases with it, it will be valueless.
Money is only a way to make those things portable. Barter doesn't work well as a distance, as even the primitive stone age traders discovered.
If the "big EMP" hits, there won't be much going on at a distance. 99% of the population will only be involved in what goes on within walking distance.
Even in times of dire crisis, those who have what they need to meet their basic survival and comfort needs will be hoarding riches for the time when they become relevant again, so I would think that there will always be value in recognized valuables, such as silver, gold, diamonds, and so on. More immediately, however, those things that will meet a person's basic needs will be more easily traded. As for bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrencies, if I were in my 20s or 30s, it would probably make sense for me to figure it out but, at 70, I trust that I can live the rest of my life without investing in bitcoin.
If you have any of that, you gotta defend it. And you gotta sleep sometime. I've yet to concoct a scenario where it ends well for me.
Even ancient people moved around. I guess folks can sit at home and starve if they wish, but that wouldn't be me. I suspect a number of people would move in with us, as we are fairly self-sufficient and I would never let my children and grandchildren starve. In the short term, many people would stay in place and defend what they had, but in the long term, commerce would resume in some form, and currency of some kind would be involved.
My take is that if things get "ANTIFA riot" bad, I'm not gonna survive long-term. So I'll give freely of what I've got to those who are of the same mind, rather than die (or kill) defending the possibility of eking out a few more days of unsatisfying paranoid existence. It somehow feels "cleaner." Now, if someone violently approaches me because they're gonna help themselves to my belongings using force (and do me or others harm in the process), that's a different issue...and a different set of principles. Hopefully all this remains at the concept level.
An EMP will be a temporary inconvenience and things will get back to normal after everything is fixed. In the meantime, we get to meet our neighbors.
Well heck ..... even cash/stocks etc. Will not be available if held in a bank/ brokerage house , etc that has to have on-line control to access them. Only ones cash on hand will be available ... and I'm not so sure how 'usuable' that will be ? In the case aof a wide spread EMP .
When we had the tornadoes here a few years ago, all of the power in the whole area was off. No one could use a credit/debit card, or even get money from an ATM machine. The roads were closed, and even if you could get to the bank, it was also closed. Even if a person was able to get money, or had some cash stashed away at home, all of the stores were also closed, so there was no where to even spend any money . Even the automatic doors of businesses would not open. If we had an EMP, it would be even worse, more widespread, and last a lot longer because help would not be available from outside the area like it is when a natural disaster hits locally. Most vehicles have computers in them nowadays, so even if your fuel tank was full, the car would probably not start to go anywhere, assuming that going somewhere would do any good.
Darn! I was mad when hubby bought his 1960 Buick and now it might come in handy. Course if he does not drive it more, it might not start either.