If some resource (say, energy or water) would become an obvious bottleneck for "civilized" living, "indespensible" technology, or just survival, wouldn't that resourse become de facto hard currency?

The Austrian position is wrong.

What makes currency currency is that contracts and tax liabilities are enforced in terms of the currency.

Money is not a store of value. Money is a tool of contract enforcement. The state of scarcity or abundance has the next best thing to nothing to do with the rules for contract enforcement.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.