Data as Currency: The Emerging Economy of Digital Value
Today’s hyper-connected digital economy thrives on innovation. From barterable items to coins, notes, and even crypto, the world has undergone a steady transition from one form of currency onto the next. And while all of these have made a significant impact on global trade – the real power now, and still, lies in data. Over the years, data has become a dynamic force in the global digital economy, leading to smarter decisions, more personalized experiences, and smarter AI. According to IDC’ Data Age 2025 journal, the global datasphere is expected to grow to over 175 zettabytes by 2025, reflecting just how central data has become a core component in modern business operations. To put 175 zettabytes into perspective, assuming a standard HD movie is about 5 GB, and you watch one movie per day, it would take you ~95 billion years to watch them all.
But how does this transformation unfold in practical terms? Does that mean businesses need data to trade and profit? The question that arrives is how today’s organizations are leveraging the power of data to real-world advantage, using it more than a tool, but as coinage to their everyday business operations.
I’m going to demonstrate how data is serving as a medium in the digital economy, working as a key component of intelligent automation, AI-powered platforms, and product engineering. I will also share how experience engineering firms like Ciklum are helping businesses move beyond seeing data as just an asset – but as currency.
From Passive Asset to Strategic Currency
If we look back in time, data was a passive byproduct – structured and collected for compliance, audit trails, or basic reporting. Today, the term “data as currency” has transformed into an operational aspect, turning into fuel for decision making, particularly for discriminatory AI and ML systems, generative AI, or huma-augmenting decision support systems (DSS). It’s a strategic input for AI models, business decisions, and automated operations.
However, not all data holds equal value. What truly gives data its currency like power are two key traits:
- How the data is used
- Whether the data is proprietary
Publicly available or commoditized data offers only temporary advantages ("no alpha"). Typically, this advantage is short-lived and fades quickly with competition. Here, proprietary data is what creates strategic lift.
This type of data helps determine customer behavior, internal usage patterns, and operational signals, in most cases unique to every organization. It compounds in value so the more you have it the better you use it – much like cash in a high interest savings account. When organizations accumulate this data, it creates a flywheel effect that helps them iterate faster, improve personalization, and strengthen future outputs.
The Currency Analogy: Where It Works – and Where It Doesn’t
To strengthen the logic that data behaves like money, it’s important to explain the currency comparison as symbolically as possible. For one:
- Proprietary data can be exchanged for value - such as free tools, faster access, or custom recommendations.
- Just like money, it needs to flow across systems to be useful to increase its value.
- It’s utility compounds - it grows when it enables compounding outcomes. Meaning the more you collect and connect, the more powerful your insights and decision making outcomes become.
However, there are critical differences that set it apart. Currencies can be substituted while data cannot. And for certain business challenges, only the right dataset will help lead to the right decisions.
Enter the Data Marketplaces
Just as financial markets enable the trading of capital, data marketplaces allow the trading and circulation of information. Today’s data marketplaces have completely revolutionized how businesses view and monetize data assets. These structured and robust platforms allow the listing, buying, selling, and exchanging data – both legally, and illegally such as the dark web. Even so, haggling exists to some extent and dynamic pricing methods
But as agentic AI and real-time applications grow, there’s an even greater push for standard contracts, APIs, and emerging communication protocols such as MCPs to ensure interoperability.
Ciklum helps clients integrate with such ecosystems, ensuring that data trading is secure, compliant – meeting all the technically seamless.
Valuing Data: Not All Bits Are Equal
Just as we established data’s symbolic function as currency, and how it flows in open marketplaces, its value is also subject to factors and use cases. Organizations assess value based on:
- Quality and structure: Is it clean, structured, and formatted to fit?
- Use case alignment: Will it improve decision-making?
- ROI potential: Can we attribute this data to revenue gains, operational efficiency, or churn reduction?
- Rate of return: Is that identified impact big enough and a wise spend of our resources?
- Exclusivity: Is this data publicly available, or proprietary?
Organizations often benchmark competing datasets, review their authenticity, and consult subject matter experts (SMEs) to perform sample audits. Data experts can quickly flag inconsistencies and support clients in validation efforts – preventing investments from turning into costly catastrophes.
Measuring the ROI of Data
One of the most common challenges clients face is whether my data is worth the investment. Unlocking value from data is one thing – proving it is another.
Here, organizations must consider whether it’s improving user retention, generating uplift value, or reducing support tickets. To ensure all these are met, here is what must be checked:
- KPIs tied to the data initiative
- Control groups to isolate variables
- Attribution models, even if imperfect
Cases where attribution is difficult, such as offline events, the right experimental design can help businesses uncover patterns and estimate value. These practices serve as the core of data valuation and must therefore be embedded into every data strategy.
Where “Data as Currency” is Thriving
Certain industries are already leading the charge. They’re operating on this new economic model and reshaping how businesses understand, use, and value data. These industries include:
Healthcare: High value, high risk, and highly regulated – requiring structured data governance
With Ciklum’s cross-industry expertise, clients can benefit from secure, scalable, and ethical data infrastructure that unlocks both value and compliance.
The Bottom Line
As we enter this new era, data has transformed into more that just a resource - it’s a currency. Today, data sits at the heart of business models, value chains, and customer experiences, quietly powering decisions, training algorithms, fuelling platforms, and transforming business models.
But like any currency, its value depends on:
- It must flow to generate value
- It must be verified before use
- It must be protected and respected
At Ciklum, we help businesses harness this currency – enabling them to treat data not just as an asset to protect, but as a lever to grow.
From engineering platforms, pipelines, and privacy controls that enable data to move securely, we build infrastructure with intelligence and integrity – so you thrive in the data economy.
