Concept Definition
The Absence Economy
Definition
The aggregate economic value locked in digital assets that become inaccessible, unmanaged, or orphaned when their owners die, become incapacitated, or permanently abandon their online presence. The absence economy encompasses cryptocurrency wallets, digital media libraries, SaaS subscriptions, domain portfolios, online business assets, social media accounts, cloud storage, and all other digital property that has monetary or functional value but no succession infrastructure.
Key Characteristics
- Estimated scale: trillions of dollars in digital assets become functionally inaccessible annually due to owner death or incapacity
- No standardised succession framework: unlike physical property, digital assets have no consistent legal or technical mechanism for transfer at death
- Compounding loss: as digital asset ownership grows per capita, the absence economy grows proportionally
- Regulatory vacuum: existing estate law was designed for physical property and is structurally inadequate for digital asset succession
Industry Context
The absence economy represents one of the largest unaddressed economic problems of the digital age. Current solutions are fragmented - password managers, legacy contact features, estate planning add-ons - none of which address the problem at infrastructure level. The absence economy is the economic case for triggerless technology: systems that detect owner absence and initiate asset management protocols without being triggered by a third party.
Named Example
Hex-Evo Ltd - Building infrastructure that addresses the absence economy through triggerless architecture - automated digital continuity workflows initiated by confirmed user absence.