Bitcoin Forum

I have a friend in Cannes, France. You may not know anything about it, but there were terrible floods there 10 days ago.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34443189 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34443189)

My friend told me her landline phone still doesn't work. There are no phones and no Internet in most of downtown Cannes. Electricity has been fixed quite rapidly, but for 2 days, the mobile phone networks were down, so no bitcoin, and no credit cards either! All the shops couldn't handle any transactions.

The only thing which kept on working was the fiber optic network, I guess because that's the newest.

The whole thing was very local. Everything was fine a few km North, but this shall reminds us that if there's a serious emergency, cash is the only safe option.

If there is a real emergency or some sort of epidemic then even cash is useless. I'd be moving with my Glock, that'd be the only way to survive :)

Well, I wonder how situations like this would be deal with in the future once the governments finally get rid of physical cash and only issue "electronic" closed source money, so to speak. What will happen then? I wish there was a way to have "physical bitcoins" as an emergency temporal fix like that but it seems pointless.

"cash" that needs to be taken out an ATM. which is a problem if card readers in shops and banks are not working..

in case of disaster, favours, gold, valuables or sexual favours is the safe option. dont rely on cash as one day even france may drop the euro overnight.

You're just using one specific example to demonstrate a broad topic, catastrophes happen. And lastly, your cash may flow and be useless but your bitcoins are always safe in the blockchain(if you remember the private key to recover them that is)

with the future google satellite internet connection, i'm sure there will no be excuse about not having internet

this is not even an issue, unless he was desperately to buy foods or something medical, i'm sure for any other thing you can wait two days

Yes, that's true. For example, if there are not any electricity in the area, you can not withdraw any cash, because bank ATM will not work  :D

I agree somewhat, depending on the scale of the disaster.  If it is something that renders society as we know it over as in no electricity, food then even cash would be useless, I'm talking end of the world scenarios.

In smaller cases cash is the easiest and quickest route to help if you have the physical cash with you and it wasn't destroyed along with all your belongings and ID.  Bitcoin however even in these circumstances will always be there secure in your wallet.

Yes, they are but if you ned to buy food right now they are useless.

However, I hope that in the near future two-way satellite internet will be affordable to anyone and then Bitcoins might be helpful in the situation mentioned above.

Exactly this! From time to time, nature reminds us who is the real boss and that in these situations, all of our technological innovation and things that facilitate our lives are pretty much useless. Even the cash of yours that you are mentioning.

In the situations like those, we don't need anything except a humble reminder that we are lucky to live another day on this planet. So no biggie if credit cards and Bitcoin were useless! :)

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/92/28/43/92284318bbc5e6e1d84dd97667507315.jpg

good old cash.

My tight buns are all the currency I need when the world ends.

Everything other than that needed to defend or sustain life is an abstract irrelevance in a full on collapse. All those gold stackers will get just as much of rude awakening as the space cadets trying to trade their paper wallet for some antibiotics after their cock's gone green.

For this reason and for this vantage that cash has needed the physical form of bitcoin. If can be realized this there will be not any other thing that bitcoin cannot make. It will be superior in every way from every kind of payment and tool which realize this kind of action.

Bitcoin wallet for android app is will solve this case https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=278237.0

Bitcoin notes thing seem cool. Just have a public master key in QR format so you can give it to people and this key will generate a new different key each time someone pays you (so you don't have to carry around 1 note per different address). Even tho I don't understand how the actual transaction would be done.. it's of tricky. You can't confirm anything without electricity.

About meshnet etc.. what if everything (every electronic device) was damaged?

Those are some stacks of cash those kids are playing around with  :D
In other words: Cash is king!  ;D

Yes cash is the easiest way to buy stuff. If shtf then food and wanter would also be valuable.

I think anything that wasn't directly involved in keeping you alive would become a total irrelevance. If I had a big bag full of surplus fresh meat and veg and one guy is offering a gold bar and the other guy a pile of lighters, candles and ammunition, gold boy is getting told where to stick it. I'd have to find some other mug willing to play along with the fantasy that it would actually be of use to them.

Well, there are "physical bitcoins" now.. but they aren't really meant to be for spending and trading, just more like a collectors item. 

Much depends on the time frame and whether it looked like a permanent downfall, but the countryside would quickly be overrun by city dwellers with zero resources looking for juicy farmers. How long would stocks in a city last under the circumstances? Society's only 3-4 skipped meals away from anarchy. If it was a hiccup and the unfried world was on its way to help out I guess it wouldn't be so desperate. It's easy to underestimate how quickly people turn feral when there's a whiff of desperation.

A gun? What would you do with a gun? You'll go to to a food store and kill the shopkeeper to get his supplies? If there's only one piece of bread left, and there are 9 other people hungry, will you kill all the 9 of them?

At a time, there were several streets with water at knee-level, you don't think about using a gun in that situation.
Besides, in western Europe, very few people own guns.

...

I think it very much depends on the particular disaster scenario...

-- If traveling, like the Cannes example by OP, then local cash (or $ in the Deveoping World) is indeed likely to be king.  Some tiny gold coins maybe, gold may help you get back home...  BTC may be OK if the Web and electricity are working (the value of the imperfect blockchain.info wallet and/or a hardware wallet).  Your Glock will be of less value in Europe, you may wind up in jail!

-- If at home, I would have a variety of options.  Gold/silver.  Gun(s) & ammo.  CA$H.  Beans, lighters, batteries.  Water purification devices.

-- Location of your emergency matters!  Weather and how many other people are around.


It all depends!  That's why "Diversification" is my middle name!

it all depends on what type of emergency you are facing, the example you gave is even the cash wont be usefull because full places are drown by water then where will you go and shop with cash when everything is in water. so everthing depends on situations.

Remember the Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared"?    I believe in diversification.  Yes,  It is good to have some cash ready.  But what about a run on banks?  If you come walking out of the bank with your cash, there could be robbers or cops (civil forfeiture) following you home and ready to take your cash. 

Well maybe you could put the money inside your wallet before walking out of the bank so the robbers won't see how much money you had :P
And im pretty sure that nobody is this insane to following you all day
I could be wrong though ::)

That's no joke. A tight ass and a closet full of antibiotics are all the money you'll need in a major catastrophe. I'm waiting for the big pandemic to come from Asia or Africa that can't be stopped. Something like a new and improved airborn Ebola or H1N1 with rapid onset and death. When martial law happens and the looting starts, I'm not taking food. I'm going straight to the antibiotic section of the closest pharmacy and wiping them out. I'll work out the exchange rate later. Maybe one 500mg keflex for a case of corn and an hour with your wife. lol

Thats where the Glock comes back into the story.

In most of the disaster areas I have been before, the first thing people are worried about, would be clean drinking water and food and getting the families together. So the emergency services give aid in that regard for the first few days.

Mobile telecommunication stations are moved into the area to provide for people to phone their relatives.

Most of the cellphone towers are situated on the highest possible areas, and will not be affected anyways. It's only the power that might be the problem, but emergency services provide access to power, if you want to charge your cellphone.

Bitcoin is not the ultimate solution, and you can always have some fiat currency stashed with your Bug out bag, if you want to trade for those few days, until the most basic services are restored.

This is not such a big deal, when everything is destroyed around you. You can trade with any item, if it comes down to that. < A watch or a ring or shoes > ^hmf^

I'm sure there remained numerous forms of transport out of the downtown area, which your friend could easily have used to get to an area that wasn't effected by the floods... In which case, cash, bitcoin, gold could all still have been used quite easily

If the condition is so bad, cash won't safe you either or even offer safe passage in this desperate situation. It's your inner survival and bartering skills that will get your through. But at least once you managed to crossover to safer location, you bitcoin will still be there regardless of which region or country you are right now.

what you are telling is half correct and half wrong, everything is according to the situation. most of the places if you have got stuck then you wont be able to use cash also. the situation what you have mentioned is their even cash also wont be helpfull as everything is drown in water, only mutual help will be available.

Good reflection. I think you are pretty much right. Although cash may also become useless in a greater emergency, it is still a step ahead of Bitcoin.

But I think that Bitcoin might become more "physical" if it goes really to mainstream adoption, and people would begin to accept it (paper wallets, physical bitcoins etc).

Wait if there was a flood wouldn't cash in the form of notes be useless and most shops these days only accept a certain amount of small change. In a situation like that maybe silver coins or gold coins would be a valid form of repayment guarantee.

Nah, notes are not damaged by water, you can trade underwater with them. And silver coins or gold coins may sink much faster than paper so notes are still good. )

Haha, I literally lol'd at this.  The thing is with speculating about what's going to happen when an "apocalyptic" even occurs, is that there is no way to know what kind of threat you are going to be facing, so there's really no idea how to prepare for it.  You don't know whether it will be a massive flood, comet hitting earth, nuclear warfare, air borne virus, etc. etc. ... But if it gets to the point where people will riot, you need to be one of the first to act on it to get the most goods as possible.  And for me, I would probably not think any thing of the situation before its too late, so I just hope that nothing like that would happen.

And why would you need a tight ass and nice buns?? lol.

Absolutely.In situation like this prices rise rapidly and you must carry a lot of cash even if you find something to buy.Most of the time people need humanitarian help in emergency or disaster not money

Before we had GPU mining, there was only CPU mining. Then came the GPUs and finally the ASICs.

Why not hand-held walkie-talkies that do only two things... communicate with the Bitcoin blockchain... and each other. At least in the big cities we wouldn't need the Internet, because, these being battery operated, would do all the communicating directly. They could integrate with the Internet as well. This way people could use Bitcoin like cash. The hand-helds would be the network.

See the article "Building Cell Networks Like Wi-Fi Could Make Service Better" at https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/184898-2015-10-15-building-cell-networks-like-wi-fi-could-make-service-better.htm to see how people are thinking along the lines of making cell phones connect like WiFi.

Just think of all the smartphones that could be adapted to use Bitcoin if they could all talk directly to each other. There wouldn't be much chance of an Internet collapse hurting Bitcoin this way, and people could use their phones, easily, for cash-like transactions... even at yard sales.

:)

only option as only people keep faith that they will be in touch with the central bank and the economic system.

when things are really bad, I think only gold and physical things will matter, as long there is no one with more weapons than you to steal them

Completely agree, if there's a energy blackout or similar, like preppers stuff, all digital technology will be reserved for the elite and government. Bitcoin shares some nice ideologies but if fiat money falls (US Dollar basically) Bitcoin won't save the day, we'll have huge infrastructure problems and possibly imminent wars for resources.

So you are keeping your cash in to your bank account.Right? If there is a disaster you can not use ATM and you can not get cash. It is same like bitcoin too. If you do not have internet you can not spend them.

Actually if there is a flood, and you lose your phone, it would mean you also lost your wallet, so your bills got moist and destroyed, and coins are useless, not enough value there, plus they will be lost within the wallet too anyway.

So if you keep your wallet, you keep your phone. If you keep your phone, and we launch nodes on space in the future so Bitcoin is availible worldwide, then Bitcoin wins in any situation.

People are prescribed antibiotics 1 out of every 3 times they visit a doctor. You can be living with a doctor but if he doesn't have a storehouse of antibiotics, you may as well be living with an auto mechanic. Antibiotics are better than cash in some third world countries.

Why a nice tight ass? Seriously? The same reason people use a tight ass right now. It's like money in the bank. lol

Um barter is always an option. So no your claim that cash is the only option is flawed.

Need to change your thinking to pre-fiat, pre-gold, pre-silver days of trade.

A country wide outage is highly unlikely. As long as there are suitable methods of transportation, you'll always be able to get to a location that will at the very least allow you to access the internet via mobile, which will in turn allow you access to your coins

It is very strongle promoted all over media that some day will be no cash,maybe in USA,becouse there islot of people all over the world with no internet acces .People all over the world are stilll using cash,if governament in some countrys will like to set up rules like that,people will change governament.Are you agree to be slaves,does your country is a kind of dictatorship or is so called democracy
What is that mean governament will decide,is there  really so bad

Very often we receive feedback of people being practically saved by Bitcoin when abroad or when in need... So define emergency in your thread title :) There are emergencies where Bitcoin is in fact valuable...

imo cash cant be replaced, its just really handy and easy to pass on. but the virtual cash we transact is meant to be replaced by bitcoin.
bitcoin cant be used in all scenarios though, if you are just buying something small like a candy bar at a shop and need to pay fast bitcoin wont do the job, unless the owner trusts you not to double spend lol. cash is more versatile than bitcoin in person

No. Cash is what you have in your pocket. I always have a couple hundreds in my pocket. A while ago, I use to have a couple thousands, maybe I'll need to do it again as a safety measure. Quite often there's no other choice if I'm in a country where there are few ATMs.


Barter? I have nothing to exchange and very few people are actually open to it. When you go to a gas station, or a grocery store, they won't accept anything but money. Besides, I have no time to waste in negotiating for basic things. I sure do negotiate when I'm buying a car, but I don't want to do each time I'm getting a burger.

I dont carry cash like that, you are putting a bounty on your own head.  If you are ready to give it away freely then carry on.   Even the police act suspicious of people who carry their cash worth with them and the law says they can confiscate indefinitely without ever bringing charges which has to be the nastiest official tax I ever heard of.   Meanwhile bitcoin is borderless, if we are literally talking floods then even cash is useless as you want food and fuel and these are true tradable items

Not entirely true IMO.
If there is some kind of EMP even a natural one like a solar one then some kind of money will still be needed.
We will need to get back to way things were, so money and cooperation will be required.
Shooting each other wont solve the problem, it will only make it worse.

The winter is approaching and some countries are short of power stations, or rely on power station fuel imported through unreliable channels. During the winter when excessive demand is made on their national grids there are periods when there is insufficient electricity to supply the whole country. Some areas have complete blackouts, and others have reduced quantities of electricity transmitted to their homes. For very big countries it's a long drive to get to another area with enough electric to access the internet, or a working ATM.

In that situation fiat is the only real way of buying things in the short term, but most shops would be shut anyway as their tills run on electricity.

Sure, if things are a bit crap but everyone's fundamentally fine there won't be much drama.

People don't think that far ahead if they're starving or their beloved is being ravaged by a disease. They'll take what they feel they need from others. Civility is a pretty thin facade that's fine as long as everything's running smoothly.

Look what happened in New Orleans post hurricane. There was a fully functioning first world country just out of reach and things turned to shit in no time at all.

That's right. And if I don't use a gun how am I supposed to get my neighbors 40kw Onan generator I've had my eye on. lol

This is quite.. fun. :D

But seriously, though, even in calamities, cash would always be the only option--not that it's the best, but it is the only thing you can use to buy goods in times like that. Fiber optics could relay information through the internet, but not everyone have access to it, so that isn't a viable option. Bitcoin is in its infancy, and we couldn't deny the fact that it is still inferior to fiat. Other emergencies we could uae bitcoin but in calamities and such? We're too far away from that.

You won't be able to access internet at all when your city gets hit by a tornadoes and all the phone lines are down
I love Bitcoin and love the anonymity it provides, but we can't completely stay away from fiat money yet, we still need those for a lot of stuffs
Unless, we have a physical Bitcoin that accepted at stores ::)

Fiber optics are buried deep beneath the ground, so there is a chance that internet connection is available for those people who availed fiber connections. As for physical bitcoins, I don't think it would be that viable since you need to print or create something like fiat, plus transactions won't be recorded on the blockchain too.

Depends a lot where you. If you are in a country where most shops don't accept credit cards, you have no choice. If you've seen the movie "the girl with a dragon tatoo", I know a girl who looks just like that who routinely has $10,000 with her.

Don't worry about the police. I've been arrested with cash, and I always got out with what I had. You just say you don't have a bank account in this country.

If one doesn't have access to the internet, bitcoins are absolutely useless to them and only cash comes handy. Except few online shopping portals and exchange websites, it's quite tough to make use of bitcoins unlike other currencies and hence Cash is always preferred.

I think if there is a serious emergency, even cash doesn't matter so much for people. In such cases everyone will think just about how to survive , trading and making money , will be details not really interesting . That's why i think that its the same case for both cash and Bitcoin if there's a serious emergency

Get a satellite phone with internet. Problem solved.

Depends on the severity of the emergency I would think. If you had a major worldwide disaster which killed off half the population and a majority of crop land etc. you'd expect that cash and gold be less relevant simply because there would be demand for things like food and shelter whereas cash and gold are useless (unless they can buy things). If society recedes far enough you would simply return to the barter system - it takes society as a whole to choose a currency/token for it to be useful.

Food would be scarce and valuable but food rots. Gold will be king again, it still has the same properties so if we regress to that state then it's only natural that we adopt it again.

Sorry to say, not all countries have fibre optic yet mate :(
Some still use an old phone lines to access the internet

I was joking about the physical Bitcoins ;D
That idea sounds ridiculous and wouldn't happen in a long run

In an emergency, there is no electricity or battery.

I do believe that physical bitcoins will be available in the near future so that more people start making use of this currency as not everyone owns an internet connection and those who own might not be able to access their wallet in an emergency (network failure or pc crash). However, it would be like black money as the transactions wouldn't be recorded and people will keep buying it to avoid paying taxes.

But doing that seems like we're heading to a fiat-like currency too, right? Especially coins are off-blockchain  so anyone can produce as many physical bitcoins as they can given that validation is absent with physical bitcoins. ::)

No electricity? - yes. No battery - hard to imagine.

Many places like hotels, restaurants, stores etc have their own power generators. In a state of emergency they most likely will help you to charge your phone.

Sir if this is a emegency you can try this things goto to nearest house or charging station or travel to other place does not affected,any has electricity generator to charge your phone after that depends on your carrier has a emegency text call or internet that can use it as emegency if theres a signal...
May i ask if what carrier do you use AT&t? At&t has a trick to unlimited all services like call text and also internet... Im not a professional to this but in my place if i need a emergency text i can do hack my network to have a internet unlimited to text or call via skype.... I have a knowledge about this kind of talent since 2007 and still i used it as my emegency case...

It would be similar to fiat but more like gold and silver coins mainly to be used as a barter system. It's necessary when people cannot access the internet and need to use their bitcoins. The anonymity would still exist and taxes could be avoided.

@bold: There could be a trademark or symbol like we have for gold coins so that nobody could make fake bitcoins and cheat users.

bitcoin was not meant to fulfill those niche isolated enviroment, it was not intended as the messia for every problem

some of those can still be resolved with the old traditional method, this does not mean that bitcoin is flawed or whatever...

That's fine in modest numbers. What if you've got half a continent making its way towards somewhere? That's going to be a smelly old mess however you look at it.

That sucks big time, not only for private use but also for businesses, I work in IT, no Internet means I cannot do my job.

I always have cash for at least a month of normal spending, in case of something like this happen or I lose my cards, it's always better to be prepared...

...

The whole "cash is the only option" can be examined in three scenarios too:

1)  Travelers on vacation or business are in a zone with a temporary emergency.  They lose electricity, and so have to resort to cash (or perhaps gold if severe).  BTC and credit cards won't be any good for the short-term IMO.  And who travels with a Glock and ammo?  This first scenario seems most likely (to Westerners anyway).

2)  A really bad & longer-term emergency hits (say a Katrina) where you live.  Then cash is still good, but that gun sure would make me feel better.  Gold might be OK.  Food and water enter the mix as people would be hungry & thirsty.  BTC likely would not be too good either, credit cards probably not for a while after the emergency strikes.

3)  A really bad SHTF.  Internet goes down, so who would want to transact by BTC?  Not me.  Cash, guns & ammo, gold, food & water.  This is the least likely scenario.

So, to me, BTC works best in non-emergencies.  And, my best guess is that the system will limp along OK at least for some time.  BTC, like platinum, is for optimists.  BTC works well in a capital-controls environment as well.

Even if you have electricity,the seller or other person must also have satellite phone to receive your payment

Are we prepared to admit to ourselves that in a fall of society type scenario Bitcoin usage is a totally ridiculous abstraction from the good old days however you want to pitch it? I certainly am.

It's hard for everyone nowadays to imagine working without internet, and especially for the networkers and the Bitcoin's fans, although such emergency cases still possibles to happen any time

Haha, yeah this is what I was thinking, reminds me of the walking dead.

In one of the episodes, they find a bunch of money in a country club, and literally just burn it because that's its only value.

So in regards to OP, unfortunately Bitcoin is still useless in the event of real emergency. But in the event of a catastrophic event, what good will any legal tender do you?

For some situations cash is just better, not only in emergencies. Bitcoin can take the place of bank transfers, not of cash.

Guy's, in a true shtf situation knowledge is king. I read an article once that concerned a refugee from a civil war. He lived in a city with no services for 2 years.

The thing that struck me was this, the man that made and repaired oil lamps never missed a meal.

In my experience, only plastic money is more useful than fiats now a days in many country. Bitcoin may over take the plastic money with mobile wallets when most of the merchants and services starting accept bitcoin. I foresee those days when we can each and everything with mobile and instant confirmation too.

I think nothing can replace cash in the next 10-20 years, using credit cards have it's disadvantages as well because of its interest rest and possibility of being cloned. Same with using prepaid and debit cards. Bitcoin will be used only online. 

When the shit hits the fan, I will stock up on some cigarettes. I am not a smoker, but there are loads of people who are, and that will be to my benefit. Smoking is a addiction and most people will trade food for a cigarette. ^hmf^

I think Bitcoin will survive as a currency, but fiat will always be around because it is in abundance. The only problem is, it will still be worthless and more practical to use as toilet paper. ^LoL^ 

Bitcoin will coexist with fiat for decades. The adoption of bitcoin in society is a gradual process, will take centuries.

It's a lot easier to steal somebody's cash than it is to steal their Bitcoins (provided that they secure them properly).
If the price wasn't so volatile I'd happily keep most of my savings in Bitcoin.

What do you mean by that exactly? Of course Bitcoin will be used online,  but from using it you can get something, some food or some services, in real life.

IMO to say "Bitcoin will be used only online." is like to say "cash is only paper".

It is really funny story but sadly yes. Technology brings us luxury but it is never guarenteed. Banking system may crash, electricity may cut off, internet could be useless and slow. So cash functions after that. It is lord saviour.

In very emergency problem, you will need cash on your hand because gold and bitcoin will not work in very emergency situation. Gold can be useful depend on your situation ( like wars and you need evacuate to other country ). But in many situations, cash is the best option for emergency situation like earthquake, flood, and other natural disasters.

Everything is based on the country we live in. If bitcoin is widely accepted or at least bitcoin ATMs are available in your street or city, then bitcoin also will be helpful for any emergency. Otherwise gold o fiats are the only savers as we can find many resources to accept those two savings.

When there is an emergency Cash is useless against Guns and Power..

I believe OP is not meant that kind of emergency like a life threatening moments. Fiat is widely accepted every where so, people can use it when ever they wanted. Bitcoin also will become similar or more than fiat at now a days. But we need price appreciation to make that is possible.

You are speaking about a global catastrophe which clearly at that point what does it matter right? But if it's a local issue I doubt you would have much issue. I'd stash my device with a charged up battery in a waterproof container out something in an emergency. I am pretty sure my solution could be viable at that point.

Yeah, you want guns, dogs, food stocks, medical supplies, a large group of people who you can trust.  Then you work on rebuilding society.

That sounds more like the walking dead...

Haha, I was thinking the same thing when I was reading through all the comments... but really, there is no telling what you need to "stock up" on for some unseen "emergency" because, no one will no in advance what "emergency" to prepare for. 

I don't know if anyone on here has seen that show "Preppers", but it basically is a show that shows people prepping for some kind of apocalyptic event that they think will happen... If you watch the show, you will see people preparing for very different scenarios, and even starts out each show with "This is Bob, he is preparing for a Nuclear holocaust by building an underground bunker and storing X amount of food"... then the next show will be something along the lines of, "This is Alice, she is preparing for a zombie apocalypse by stocking up on guns, ammo, gasoline, etc. etc." ... So in short, there are more than one "apocalyptic" scenario one would have to prepare for... Not to mention, no one would know if the internet will still be up and running or not... so bitcoin could maybe still have some value during such an event.

Where ever fiats work fine in the format of plastic cards, now a days it's possible to use bitcoin debit cards to make all the spending we needed to. The bitcoin debit card will do that magic of making bitcoin to be accepted every where you wanted.

Basically food and water and material supplies remain the only option in emergency.

Agree. With bitcoin cards, we need to agree that bitcoin has entered into every business virtually. But in some countries those bitcoins cards are still not available which makes people ignoring the other uses of bitcoin too. I believe bitcoin has become in fiat format with the help of debit cards.

Zombie Apocalypse!!! We need some ZCoins bhahahahha.
Truth is , if there is a world wide emergency, cash will be totally useless, and so will bitcoin be. The only things with value are gonna be the things u need the most to survive. If u survive that is.

Same thing will happen if WW3 erupts, cash will have no value and precious items will be more valuable like like food and water. Same when calamity strikes, cash ill be useless as there's no store open to sell to you.

If WW3 start, we will be wiped out. There are enough nuclear weapons on this earth to destroy every country situated anywhere on this planet. So to think that fiat currency will be better than digital currencies, will not matter in any event like this.

We will not be here to use either fiat or Crypto currencies after WW3. ^hmf^

I'm not thinking of that "wipe out" thing yet  ;D
I'm still hoping that somehow when WW3 erupts, there would be like bunkers or places where we can hide and survive till end of war so life can continue and use those money we stashed somewhere.  :)

I still think a Zombie Apocalypse is more viable than WW3, with all the new viruses that they are discovering and reviving and all the experiments that they are conducting...The issue is , which one is gonna get here first. Either way...no cash or any crypto currency will survive.

In a true emergency its not cash that will be king but utility goods that people can use everyday to address their situation.
Food water tools and supplies will always retain their value even if gold money and other currencies were to be made hard to use for any period.

there will be always someone that could require it for weapons maybe, to fight zombie

accumulating when everyone else is indifferent to it, and becoming rich later, like satoshi did

In a post apocalypse world (caused by whatever reason) , the only thing i would be concerned is surviving, not securing my financial future , when the possibility to have one is so slim.

well after you survive you need something that could help you in the future, something that you could exchange, girls have an advantage there, because they can offer their body

you must find something else

You could offer your body too. Bhahahahhaah

Demand is very low for men body. Even fat girls like you make money but most fit men can't make money with offering their bodies.

Where do u live? If i am a fat woman in your opinion , then u must be living in Somalia ffs...but yeah...whatever. And men do make money offering their bodies. And a lot of money...But we are deviating from the original subject here.

Exactly this! During the crisis in Cyprus, even though it was a man made crisis, people have returned to barter. They were exchanging goods for food and services. They had absolutely no trust in money, credit cards, or any man made financial instruments. They have pretty much return to the old ages.

The same thing would happen during any catastrophic event so I am not that worried about OP's reasoning.

while, tnx to the workout i have a good body, it's no where near as valuable as a good girl body

yes that was a shortage bitcoin.

and do not make bitcoin as a means of payment in everyday situations.
but only for certain goods. This is only a suggestion.

the rest depends on you.

Whats wrong with fat girls? They need love too~!

Bitcoins are no doubt, the simplest way and safest pay of payment, but still in case of emergency, they have a downvote. Let's understand it with an example. Suppose you are caught by traffic police for rash driving, and you are fined, say 100Rs. Its not necessary that officer has btc wallet too ,but it's a sure fact that he must have cash, so here you have no choice, but to pay in cash, so in case of emergency in some places, BTC always doesn't work right way. .

Sadly without the means to buy it, you can't have it. Cash is a globally accepted form of payment. You can't argue with that.

Ok, let me answer this with a question... If you need one of these things {food / water / medical supplies} and I gave you the option to pay with cash / Bitcoin / gold / silver or I

trade one item for the other {food for medical supplies} what would you accept for payment? Let's make this interesting and shake things up a bit.  ::)

In order of priority, I would accept trading for goods first and then any other precious metals and then cash and lastly Bitcoin... Why? Most people will want to do the same and

there are not a lot of options for people to accept Bitcoin during that time. {The process will just be too much effort, and most would have to deal with other stuff, like grief for

the dead}

YES!!!

This is the biggest weakness with using Bitcoin - if the electricity goes out or you're unable to reach the blockchain, your funds are not accessible (they might as well be worth nothing).

But, Bitcoin was never designed to be a doomsday currency. It was meant to be a more fair, more efficient way to conduct current financial transactions.

This is the beauty of it, it won't need to replace fiat (nor should it) because fiat will always be necessary in emergency situations. This will help prevent the rulers of fiat currencies from meddling with Bitcoin.

You know the only currency that would work in a doomsday scenario? a 12 gauge automatic shotgun. Im sorry but if anyone expects people to start trading gold coins in the middle of a post apocalyptic doomsday scenario, I think you have too many hopes.
Such a scenario is pretty sci-fi, so I don't see the worries. If electricity fails humanity failed.

If you have battery for your smart phone and there is wifi or 4G phone service, then it might not be a big problem.

If we ever have a doomsday fiat money will probably become worthless too and will likely revert back to a barter/trade system again.

there's still a big problem, when you're in a place and all of people there dont know what is bitcoin

if there is no electric.. there is no wifi.. there is no 4G.. this about what powers those antenna's.. hint: its not jellybeans.

then atm would not work either, unless you have cash already you're screwed anyway

in those case money are the last of your problems i think

in is truly accepted that money is the only option in emergency, but it should be according to the situation, what situation you gave in that money will also not be useable. everything has its own usage. 

I think that in the real emergency cases even the cash couldn't be useful, because the person's life will be in danger and then people usually don't think about using cash or bitcoins, they usually in this cases think about survive..

what you are telling is not right because when your life is in danger ( what type of dange should be knowing) that time the danger can be handled by cash only not by bitcoins because for bitcoin the danger should also be knowing about bitcoin and cash everyone know about it

Yes, that's true. In any emergency, the only option is paper cash, in some countries - cash paper is the only option in the streets  ;)

In the first few hours, yes, but then, if you survived the disaster you'll need something to eat and then you'll need some cash or Bitcoins if it is possible to use them where you are.

Yes, this kind of situation mainly dependent on where you are living in. I believe with bitcoin debit-cards (even it has some higher fees compared to our bank cards) it is completely possible to face any situations with bitcoin.

If other fiat credit cards work in emergency, bitcoin credit card should also work in the same situation.

Bitcoin can still work in case of an emergency.

Yes with bitcoin debit cards, we can spend bitcoin every where. But people need to pay some fees for those cards. Doubtfully these cards may not available for all the countries.

Yeah that is true, but most people that have bitcoin, also have real cash. I would think most people carry around some cash with them during the day. Bitcoin is also an investment for some people, so not being able to access their Bitcoin wallet for like 2 days, isn't really that bad. But yes, cash is the best thing to have in an emergency.

Like you said, it depends on the person which kind of payment will he/she receive in times like this. There are options, but it depends on the availability of the option you'll be choosing in times of crisis. ;)

Anybody remember "Gilligan's Island?"  Thurston Howell had bags of money but they weren't worth anything on the deserted island.  It was the professor who provided what everybody needed.  In the event of an extremely cataclysmic local event, or a total crash of the world economy, the number one commodity will be knowledge...it is that simple!  Our critical thinking skills, our understanding of the environment, our ability to function in a community, our physical health and our mental ability to adapt will determine our fates in such situations....not fiat or bitcoin or status or gold...but knowledge, health, and community.

If the grid goes down, there will be many graver problems than BTC not working...  And, I don't care if BTC could theoretically work, NO ONE would want Bitcoin in a lights out.

But, the grid going down (long-term, not just hurricane damage, etc.) is not likely.

I do think that gold would retain value, but there is much to say for common-use ammunition.  I would add ".22 LR" rounds, they are small and super-cheap.

Like Sweden ?
http://www.financialpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=business.financialpost.com//business-insider/people-in-sweden-are-hiding-cash-in-their-microwaves-because-of-a-fascinating-and-terrifying-economic-experiment

Well, there are several ways to exchange bitcoin that don't require the internet...radio, superimposition, paper...etc.  One just needs the knowledge, preparation, and community support to accomplishment the task.  Also, there are other off grid means to generate electricity such as wind, hydro, chemical, and solar mechanisms.

However, in a total economic meltdown, currency will not have value, so that point is mute.  Knowledge and knowhow will rule in such situations.

Remember that antibiotics have an expiration period so long term liquidity is out of the question.

Off course. You can make bitcoin transaction offline. Only with cash you can make transaction without internet, phone, computer, witnesses, etc.

You're far too rational to be here. You should go away.  lol

i prefer to have vitamin, high dosage, and every other powerful supplement, and maybe some high packed foods and water, you don't need something else in a emergency, you can sleep on the street

No one can expect an emergency situation.
But anybody can be ready with cash for an emergency situation not with the food or tablets.
So money is more important to manage any emergency situation. But with the bitcoin debit card now we can manage any emergency situation like with real money.

It depends on what type of emergency. If there are flooding, well your stuff will get destroyed by the water no matter what you do, but if you make it, that's all, civilization goes on and Bitcoin remains the most advanced and better form of money available.


If on the other hand you are talking about a global collapse that resembles the Mad Max movie.. then only water, food and a shotgun is all that will help you go through the day.

actually no, i'm more ready with foods than anything else, since foods are always present in my house, cash not so much, and they would be useless in an emergency worse than the OP situation

that's when gold/silver would be useful.

just having a couple of silver coins should be enough for a few weeks

i dont know there was a flood in france,we all only know that in france was aterorist attack. its a good to know this news,i hope everyone not problem with cash or bitcoin,just help them if we can,its the only way to make they rise up again.
pray for france.

I always use cash, since i don't want to depend on a card that can be broken.

Suppose you are out of gas and your cards don't work (electricty breakdown). You can't buy even a little snack of 1 dollar..

Keep a little bit of emergency cash, for reasons like this.
A small portion of your portfolion should be in stable, easily accessible investments - like demand deposits. These can be converted to cash quickly and used when required.
For the rest, there is Bitcoin.  ;)

In a minor emergency your government will likely step in and provide for your needs until it's over.

In a medium to major crisis international relief from multiple countries will help some people. Cash and Bitcoin will most likely be useless and bartering will take over. Store up things people will always trade for like medicines and food.

In a SHTF emergency power and strength will be the only currency. Harden your heart and stock up on guns and ammo.

No matter what happens in one single place or location, you'll always be able to (have no other choice but to) travel to a location that isn't effected

That's what humans have done since the dawn of mankind, migration... it works ; )

I'm sure people could use physical gold coins with bitcoins on them somehow. I think we'd be pretty fucked if the internet or creditcard systems went down anyway but can't imagine such a disastrous scenario anytime soon.

I do not agree. Fiat money cash is not the main option. The main option in my opinion are Bitcoin-backed coins. With them you could also buy  goods if the power networks are down.

Fiat is trash, anything that isn't digital in the digital era is a waste of time and out of the loop. Also have fun trying to use cash when the goverment gets rid of in in the coming decade or two which is where all things seem to point at, therefore, Bitcoin will be the ultimate payment system because everything else will be controlled by someone in charge.

Right now the only option to pay for most services is to use fiat on your bank account.
In a way there lies a lot of potential here for bitcoin. Most company's/shops in my country accept cards etc.

And guess what, there are a lot of party's that offer a bitcoin to fiat/ fiat to bitcoin credit card.

I always pay with my card (bank and/or credicard) but yes i also keep some fiat money in my wallet in case there is an emergency.

Card can be broken and some kind of system failure can happen. In that case i got my spare cash.

A credit card with nice credit limit is great in case of an emergency so I don't agree that cash is the only option

The more options, especially easy-to-use ones that are robust, the better. 

A credit card is good, but CA$H is more versatile in a pinch, or perhaps better said: in a crunch.  If I had to pick ONE option: CA$H.

Everyone, IMO, should have, say, $100 or more in their wallet at all/most times.

And maybe $20 - $50 worth of BTC in their mobile device just in case you find a place where you can grab a bite to eat and pay with Bitcoin!

Lol yeah. I'm guessing you live in America since you own a gun. I'll just carry around a huge metal Bitcoin. You know, Bitcoin is very useful.

Physical money for barter has been around for years in one form or another - feathers, gold, copper, shells and even knots on string. There will always be a need for it. Given the way the Chinese and Russians are buying physical gold, It will probably be gold coins. I believe Australia has just introduced a new gold coin. Bitcoin won't be any use if the other guy only accepts Litecoin. Banknotes will probably be around for a while as the money structure shifts away from worthless bank generated money.

I don't think bitcoin will be any use in a genuine and extended crisis. I don't think paper money will be much use either. These guys who are piling up gold are gonna get a shock too. All money is abstract. Guns, food and medicine is the real deal.

As far as the topic is concerned, cash really remains the only option if there is any emergency then I feel its really a true thing because in emergency we can get cash from friend, relatives or through ATM debit card and credit card depends if the person need money in emergency carrying the card or not.

I am hoping for the satellite internet connections to happen now already! This will be a game changer and yes, it will keep bitcoin going in an emergency. Always be prepared for an emergency.

If there were a cataclysmic event so large that it disabled the Bitcoin network, then cash wouldn't be much good either.  Knowledge, leadership skills, and a strong sense of community would be the main commodity and the exchange currency would be labor.  You wouldn't need cash because the store shelves would be empty.

Yes, If there is an emergeny, only physical cash comes handy and not bitcoins. But is one has a bitcoin debit card, he/she can withdraw the amount via an ATM and use the cash in case of an emergency and hence it is only the ability to convert bitcoins to fiat that matters.

Cash would only be good in a shtf scenario if that was what people needed more than likely people would want something else to barter with whether food water or anything else that was a necessity for survival

This is just not true. You can get a paper wallet, wrap it on water resistant plastic and there you go, you have your credit card. And in the future im sure they will invent super robust hardware wallets that are fully functional even under extreme circumstances like underwater, heat, being crushed by a truck and so on.

I do not think so, it may happen in a big city, but if you are thinking about a small town that still have to put cash to make payments? even to know bitcoin is also very difficult.

I knew a lady once who was a child during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.  She told me that her grandmother had a bamboo stick full of American coins (90% silver at the time.)  The family moved to the country to live with relatives and the bamboo tube got them through the event, which lasted for several years, relatively well.

It's worth note that more 'modern' occupations focus on clearing the countryside of humans as rural areas often act as a breeding ground for insurgency.  That was the main reason for napalming and agent-oranging the shit out of Vietnam, burning down rural villages, and killing the inhabitants as I understand things.  I would expect that the same tactics will be employed in the U.S. and like countries although the excuse will be that it is to comply with the United Nations Earth Charter and the 'wildlands' project.

Even in urban environments under a 'cashless' system, it will be extraordinarily difficult to completely halt black-market operations.  At least over a long duration.  Extreme surveillance will be attempted, and may actually work pretty well, but not completely.  It will be trivial to box out the current implementations of distributed crypto-currencies since they were, for the most part, not evolved to deal with the potential threats.  Silver coins will be much more difficult.  I expect that the technology to locate and identify masses of elemental metals are more advanced than most people realize however.  A silver or gold coin in one's pocket might act as a target beacon.  I don't know this, or course.  It's just a guess based on my observations of related technological progress.

I would have to ask the question as to what they could be buying if everything is down and not working.  I understand that that they will need the main parts of life, food, water, shelter, etc., but most things currently bought with Bitcoin would be useless at this point.  In the future I understand, but as for now, there is no need to spend it there.

No, in metropolitan cities also same situations only. Bitcoins on its own is just a virtual currency that needs to be converted to fiat cash unlike other currencies like USD/EUR/GBP that can be used directly. If one needs to use bitcoins in case of an emergency, they need to access their online wallet and search for an exchanger which is quite tough.

How can Bitcoin fail to resist an attack of massive surveillance? Maybe not right now, but give it one year and we will get it running with TOR seamlessly (already coming with 0.12), give it CC, integrated CoinJoin, bip47... what are they going to do? it's impossible to control at that point, only thing they can do is keep trying to develop a trojan horse to centralize nodes (Bitcoin XT and so on) but not even that seems to be working.

If there is a real emergency, goods remain the only option :)

That's the reason why i never count on cards.
The moment something happends and there is no electricty you can't get anything.

Therefore I always hold a 100 bucks in my pocket and another 100 bucks in my car.

In my opinion gold is the best option if there's an emergency.
I'm afraid bitcoin funds will not help us much if there's an emergency because without Internet it's very difficult to transfer Bitcoin to our pockets.
Even cash can loose its value in the time of crisis.

 :( I hope no lives were lost. Cash is still the most widely accepted means though, but ten years from now,  we just might go cashless.

during emergency situation cash is the only option... gold can also help you... but cant able to wait for bitcoin transfer..

But how if the emergency situation is when your house get burned and all your cash gone, think about it because your Bitcoin is still in the safe place on the network. Well, the problem would be different if you keep your Bitcoin in paper wallet or on your computer. That's why you have to use online wallet to besides cold storage, because I think it's more safer in this kind of situation.

That's the worst scenario if you let your cash be burned along with your house...You still have your salary from the office where you work, loans, and insurances, so you will still have cash even if your house is burned along along with your cash..not to mention donations from your neighbors...

Yes, I think cash still has the advantage in conditions like these when having a creditcard since there aren't any companies accepting it directly. I think only cash and maybe gold has advantages like these "although gold still needs to be liquidized since you can't sell parts of it easily in such conditions"

OP brings up a good example of bitcoin's dependence on 1) electricity and 2) connectivity.  Sure, we may or may not get a zombie apocalypse where you're going to need seeds and weapons, but there are plenty of more plausable disasters whereby the internet could go out.  Even temporarily.  Blizzards, lightning storms, even fucking vandalism.  In those cases, cash is king.  Absolutely.

in a real emergency cash will be useless.. only things for trade is going to be the only option..
things to stock up on..

1, hard candy.. everyone loves candy.
2, candles.. no power = dark.. flashlights wont last long.
3, those tiny bottles of alcohol.. specially the clear ones.. they can be used for antiseptics.. they are flammable and can be used for pain relief.
4, drinkable water.. everyone needs water.. you cant live without it.
5, gasoline, kerosene, and oil.. gotta have fire to cook and heat. it makes starting fires easy.
6, cord wood.. or other flammables.. specially nice if you live on property with trees you can cut down.

nobody is going to trade tiny pieces of paper for things they need to keep to live..

Bitcoin is not yet mainstream, few shops are accepting it as a payment, in some online shops you still have to convert it to cash before you could pay your orders and  during emergencies like blackout, no internet, bitcoin would be useless...That is why cash should always be on standby..

bitcoins are no doubt, the simplest way and safest pay of payment, but still in case of emergency, they have a downvote. Let's understand it with an example. Suppose you are caught by traffic police for rash driving, and you are fined,..

I Dont have cash for emergency cause it can be stolen and used
without any safety net.

I have a credit card I only use for emergency and if it was stolen I would
get my money back etc..

lol you might be missing the point a bit.  People here are talking about an emergency the size of Texas.  Armageddon.   Your puny credit card will do nothing.

this one is true in real life and in any case scenario cash is the best option we have alternatives like credit card debit card and btc but in any how cash still the best option to use. many example has been brought out from the previous replies and many inputs but still in reality cash always have the advantage.

Money and bitcoin would really be held useless if there was a major global crisis that would happen,the value of food and water would really out price the money.

Food and water will out price the money, if such situation arise. But now at present commodities like gold, platinum helps at emergency as it has got common acceptance in exchange for cash.

Obviously we are talking about different kinds of emergencies as well.  A "Katrina" type event will mean that credit cards cannot be used in such an event, at least in places with The Grid down.

There are other kinds of emergencies that can be imagined...:

1)   A financial collapse that leaves .gov and The Grid still up.  
1a) .gov decides to get Big & Bad and seize stuff.  Credit cards might then not work, nor ATMs, but CA$H would (for a while).
1b) TIME becomes a factor, the authorities might BAN taking capital (gold) out of the USA...

2)   The grid goes down...
2a) CA$H might work for a short while (so BUY supplies!), credit cards & BTC would not.  Then you are looking at water, Au & Ag, and ammo.
2b) If it is "the size of TX or larger" then water & food production becomes important.  The Pharmacist might want to stock up on drugs!

3)   Hillary becomes president and imposes a dictatorship.  Your BTC might become VERY valuable then as you can take BTC out easily...   :)


My point being that a DIVERSITY of holdings is probably best as we do not have any idea of what could happen.

There's no form of currency that would work in every situation. TBH food and water would probably be the most valuable commodities if everything really went down, and when there isn't an emergency/societal meltdown it isn't really that useful as a currency as carrying tons of water and food all day long is simply inefficient. Every "currency" has its niche.

Cash is good for emergency quick bartering, and temporary spending.

But if you want to restart your life after the emergency, you need to save your wealth in portable way.

Cash, gold coins, silver, copper, etc.. Is not portable.


Bitcoin is portable!

Yes because cash is accepted everywhere and is well known form of payment,it is the most suitable option in emergency situations.You won't have time to find a person who accept bitcoin in emergency and you obviously won't want to waste your time in all these in such urgency

That wouldn't be a major issue in tight, local communities, where people know each other. They could just settle payments later.