Bitcoin Forum

I honestly think Bitcoin isn't decentralized enough considering that government still controls the Internet and can easily censor or shut them down (is this even possible?) anytime.
The move by government to make us go cashless by gradually phasing out cash is even more worrisome, could make them have absolute control over us.
We need some sort of decentralized "physical Bitcoin" that doesn't depend on the Internet and can be exchanged for online Bitcoin.  It is too risky not to have offline alternatives to Bitcoin to act as backup plan for online Bitcoin in case something big goes wrong.




Pls I need to know something,  Is it possible to exchange Bitcoin with other people without being connected to the Internet?
Let say the government bans the Internet and you have your Bitcoin offline(in cold storage right?), can you exchange the Bitcoin to the next person by simply transferring some Bitcoin from cold storage to his/her computer, phone or even data storage devices(like SD Card, USB, Hard drive etc)?
If this is possible then no need for the "Physical Bitcoin"

It is not possible for the government to prevent Bitcoin transactions by censoring the internet. With VPNs and web-proxies being easily available, that will be unpractical. So the only option left is to block internet altogether. It is never going to happen, as there will be widespread anarchy and chaos.

Isn't the Internet controlled by the government in North Korea?  I wonder if they have access to Bitcoin over there?

Government can shut down anything they want to shut down. It has happened before and nothing happened. Why do some government countries stops access to some sites, its because they can do it.  A government in a country shut down the country's internet for hours because election is going on and they don't want citizens posting updates on the social media but the effect will be haphazard and that is one unique thing about bitcoin and why they cannot stop its penetration and reason why they are now looking for ways around it.

Wow.... I could feel myself getting stupid while reading that. What steps you actually talking about ? Seriously wtf ? You one of these people that creates threads about Bitcoin banks and stuff like they. Get s clue man !!


No but they certainly try. Dude can you even walk there ?


Please stop talking nonesense.

That's the great thing about Bitcoin. Leave that govt controlled area with your backup seed phrase and you will have access to your money in your new land.

...

If the governments of the world tried to shut down the Internet, the world's financial system (and almost everything else) would freeze up instantly.

The IRS gets much of its payments and tax information by Internet.  I KNOW that Peru gets ALL of its financial info related to taxation via the Internet (yes, Peru is more advanced in that sense than the USA).

World trade would shut down immediately (our family company buys auto parts from Asia, and we no longer have fax machines).  Places like Korea and Japan are probably more dependent on the Internet than even the USA.

So, no, the government(s) will not shut down the Internet, although may try to hide/ban access to parts.  But as mentioned above, that would be very hard to do with VPNs, etc.

I forgot to mention. Govts don't control the Internet, we do. So there's that.

Firstly, governments cannot shutdown the internet and secondly if they could it would be absolutely catastrophic for millions of people, business owners, forget cryptocurrency the amount of billion dollar industries that would be affected would far out weight bitcoins marketshare in$.

I think if they needed to they can talk to all the internet provider of one country and they'll be able to shut down the internet. Well if this happens then there will be no Bitcoin or crypto currency for that country because Bitcoin and other crypto currency are all digital assets that will not live without internet connection.

Perfectly said today world's almost 90% of the work is going through Internet and stopping it is highly not possible as the max they can do is not legalize the bitcoin and even make bitcoin as illegal to use it in their country.

Never a good idea, it would be an attack upon the government itself since the entire banking industry and economy pretty much depends on stable internet connections. IF they did that, the economy would collapse and the government would be blamed for more chaos than bitcoin itself could bring. This is a non issue.

Bitcoin transaction need to be broadcasted and what we need is internet. You can read here: https://www.cryptocompare.com/wallets/guides/how-to-make-a-bitcoin-offline-transaction/

You know don't bother to think of that because you are just stressing yourself. If your country allowed bitcoin then that's it. No way government will shutdown internet just for bitcoin's sake as there more important thing that uses internet and bitcoin is just a small part of it.

Do you know something that I'm not aware of?

Maybe you know the earth will be invaded by aliens?

Because otherwise I do not understand why you asked these questions

Yeah, the idea of government shut down internet, even ban bitcoin almost impossible because people will always find another way.
But, I'm thinking about trade bitcoin offline without physical bitcoin, offline wallet (usb/hardware) could be accessed from any computer if I don't misunderstand about it, so yes, it can be done without internet but so hard to do imo.

Every one just stay calm and run as fast as you can to dump all of your bitcoins, now governments are going to shut down the internet and cause a few trillion dollars loss of funds worldwide just to stop this small ecosystem of $50B.
We're entering the new era of IOT where all the things will be connected by internet, also there are things like Torrent which makes it possible to connect with other devices without the need for any internet, you'll just need to have wifi.

Physical bitcoin will only hurt the bitcoin system. Bitcoin is a digital currency so it does not require physical form. Besides the government does have full power to filter the internet in the country, but we as the user must also be smarter. We can use VPN as an alternative to access bitcoin easily. This is all done in order to make transactions without any limitations and I am sure the government in the future will open the opportunity to adopt bitcoin.

If government will shutdown the internet bitcoin will also shutdown because in able to use bitcoin we are to be needing an internet connection so if internet is not available bitcoin will alao not be available.

That is impossible because the internet now is a way of connecting and communicating people around the world so in my opinion Is government shutdown the internet many people are going to complain about it and many companies too so I think that is impossible because the internet now are very important to each individual.

I don't answer hypothetical questions which will never, EVER happen, and this one qualifies.

Yes this is true. Government doesn't control  nor own the internet so they can't just shut down the internet. Yes they can track some VPN but not to the point that they just shut it off. Internet owns by private sectors.
You're idea is good but stop worrying in some things that we don't want to happen.

we will all die

As long as it was created by the people, the internet cannot get sanctioned by the government that easy

It is impossible for the government to just shutdown the internet because not only the user of bitcoin or any cryptocurrency are using bitcoin, almost all of the people are using internet now, there will be a big problem if they do it. And if they really shutdown the internet it will be all bitcoin user's lost.

I expect that BTC and or ETH will eventually fund satellites to act as a back up (albiet slow).

Then the satellites could be shot down I guess, but then we would fund armed satellites or may 100's of little one from one many launch that just broadcasts blocks and does fairly slow hash for the next block to save power. So that if you do take down the internet they will be the fastest hash on the network.

Think of 100 rasberri pi zero's with solar panels per launch, thought the transmitter would be much harder and power consuming.

There is no button to shutdown the all internet. Internet means millions of servers all around the world own by private people, companies, institutions, etc. So it would be practically impossible for governments to shutdown the entire internet.

I'm trying to figure it out yet I can't imagine it. Also, it's impossible to happen sicne they don't have  control in all database, satellite, signals, and etc. Yet, it's just an imagination and if it happens, people in this world would definitely be angry.

It won't be possible. Government itself rely on internet for performing various internal tasks. The country will fall in the next 24 hours if internet stops working. Internet itself is trillions trillion dollar industry which operates in mega IT companies, Military's services, and whole economic system. If internet shuts down then all the interdependent stuff will go off the greed. Just because of bitcoin government will never do anything that harm the security of nation and its assets. We are all into internet and it's too late to shut it.

Wow, I'll be damned :D how many 007 movies have you watched? if any government wants to shut down the internet, why would they go and bombard their own power plants just to deny a block in a city from having electricity? believe me the world is not ought to get us, we're just too much paranoid.

If government will shutdown the internet then bitcoin will die and a lot of people will suffer from huge losses because of this kind of action that the government will make but not only bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will receive such a huge loss because most of the businesses of the government are done in the internet so they will have a huge loss also. In reality, they will never do that because a lot of businesses will have a huge damage.

The government will never shut down the internet since the entire market will crash, and also the government has heaps of documents that are online. The government relies on the internet way  too much.

If government is to shut down internet totally and worldwide that will be the end of online stuffs online market online communication online transaction and cryptocurrencies because they are all based on the internet

Governments cannot shut down Bitcoin. The 2 reasons for this is the Streisand effect and the fact that a ban on Bitcoin is difficult to enforce. Some things have an adverse effect when banned. Instead of becoming less used, it banning something has the effect of publicising it. Moreover, Bitcoin has no centre to attack. There is no single organisation or person that controls Bitcoin and transactions don't go through a central clearing house there is really no way a regulator can stop people from downloading Bitcoin wallets and sending each other bitcoins. If there we to block all the websites that people can download Bitcoin wallets from, new ones will come up and some people will compile their own wallets from source code. The only way the usage of Bitcoin can be truly reduced is if the internet is banned. And governments would not do that. The internet is the backbone of the country. If the internet was banned... it would be complete chaos. However, even then fervent Bitcoin users can send Bitcoin via SMS.

To cut a long story short, Bitcoin cannot be truly banned.

Government can't shutdown bitcoin. As if they can shutdown internet in whole world that's impossible because we need internet not only bitcoin user but almost all of the people using internet. If they want to shutdown bitcoin they need new way to solve this that will not affect internet.

If they shutdown the internet that would be the ridiculous decision they've ever made because if they do that that would affect their banking services and will be unable to send and receive transactions that would drop their daily profit dramatically and also government employees will be affected cause they can't also send and receive emails. The internet is important part of our daily lives you easily browse the web to information and contact people and interact with social media platforms. If the internet gets shutdown it will not only affect bitcoin but many other platforms.

Maybe that can be happen when there's World War III.
When the security of many are in danger because of the terrorism. Internet can be use by terrorists to hack some system and other internet related stuff. Like just happening in some countries in Middle East.
But this shutdown thing is far from reality as of now. So much better in what you think.

First of all in the current time we can't live without the internet connection and also without the internet connection we can't use even the fiat money and also the banking sector will go down  after the shutting down of the internet .
Here if the government made ban of the Bitcoin at the internet then still we can use Bitcoin in every ways , because if a simple person can make Bitcoin then I am 100% sure that he will make a better way to use Bitcoin at internet without knowing anyone .
Since already in few countries Bitcoin is banned with the ip restrictions but still people are using the Bitcoin with vpn services .
So in the other cases whether the Bitcoin ban or block of the internet connection ( which is impossible ) , no one can stopped us to use Bitcoin .

They just have limited access to the global internet and most of the content they have access to are just local content and heavily censored.  You also need special permission to access the internet though. Sucks.

Honestly, government can't do as they wish like shutting down the internet since a lot of its citizens would surely bring a protest and those companies who are associated with internet and also it would also result for some people in this industry to become unemployed. It would surely ruin their economy and popularity of those who pass the bill to cascade. In democratic government, the people is the government but if its North Korea then it is possible.

Your suggestion is nice and I hope someone would develop your idea. I am thinking of that for a long time though I don't have the skills nor expertise to make it happen or say it is possible but I hope it is.

As you have said, bitcoin can still be sent by copying the paper or cold wallet into their computer using flash drives or SD cards. But I don't think it will be of use. Let's say internet was banned, VPN are shut down, no connection, just phone and telegraph, you think people will be still using bitcoin? If that happens no one will be using bitcoin and the world will be boring and disastrous as hell.

There will be always one bastion of freedom remaining in the world. And there will be always hackers able to cheat the government on online camp. It's impossible to stop internet now and it's impossible to stop Bitcoin and hyphotetically, if they do this, it would be the end of the world, the complete chaos, the end of a cycle... It could happen, but I don't think it will happen so fast.

In my own opinion if the government shutdown the internet, bitcoin will be also be gone. But i think that the government would not do such a thing because the internet is a very big help to all the people, and the internet has been the part of my life and it has been my hobby to use the internet.

There are other communication methods, but none are so widely used as the internet. The government will not shutdown the Internet to stop Bitcoin, because the whole financial world is built on top of the internet. They might try to excluded vital websites and some services via firewalls, but that has been proven as highly ineffective. < Chinese Firewalls >

You cannot run a network as a island, and the Blockchain is one huge global network that are dependent on nodes being linked globally. < decentralization > ^hmmmmmm^   

If ever the government shutdown the internet connection, people do bitcoin is not only the affected, ordinary people, students, teachers, computer shops, PLDT, call centers, even governments (local or not) will also be affected. So it won't be so long that the internet will be shutdown. Another, lots of people will protest for sure. We(people who do bitcoin) are not the only the people who uses internet to earn. But shutting down internet is possible.

Yes your right if the government wants to shutdown the internet bitcoin will be gone too. But it is sad to think that the government wants to shutdown the internet because every day in my life, i always use the internet even bitcoins both of them has been a part of life and i don't want both of them to be gone.

This is not possible the governament will not shut down the internet forever. Because now all country govt trying to stop cash transaction because to avoid black money in this situation if they stop internet service it will give an impact of their govt. So this could be not possible suppose if they stop our developers will discover a new way to do bitcoin transaction. We can stop the internet but we can not stop technology.

Internet is everything these days. One can't imagine it's life without internet these days. Shutting down internet will effect financial condition of a country. Banning something from internet can be good but shutting down the whole internet won't be appreciated.

Many businesses will be affected and no business might get operated so economic status of one country if ever banned or shut down internet may fall and will developed lots of issues and difficulties especially noe that almost all transaction were internet related.

Then let's do it, lol. If they are going to shut it down then be it, we're not the only one who's going to be affected by this scenario, if they are going to shut it down, then they are go8ng to be affected too, there is a lot of things that they couldn't do without the internet. They do have a lot of works to do with the internet, paper works and other documents.

So I think they wouldn't do such thing, because it will backfire to them and they don't want such thing to happen.  

I dont think that the Government will shutdown internet that easily, they have to think about it since internet is being used everywhere, i think if they shutdown internet it will affect the economy of that country since internet is also used for marketing and other business matter.

Internet kill switch


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_kill_switch

The internet kill switch is a concept, but if a government wants to shutdown internet services of a country, it is possible, but still a complex process, a step like this would be taken only during extreme unrest. Leave aside bitcoin, if a government pulls internet shutdown then fiat users would be as helpless as bitcoin users. Currently cashless/electronic transactions dominate cash transactions and internet is the medium for this.

Just a week ago Russian government put a temporary ban on google.ru and like what's happening in Venezuela, the government could block access to bitcoin related websites, but it would not be much effective.

I found a wallet in Google Play Store that have this feature, when you're offline, you can still pay via Bluetooth.

I do not think there is any wallet that offers mobile phone-based bitcoin transfer/SMS based transfer. Something like this would be useful if you do not have internet access and still process offline transaction.

well i dont agree if the government will shut down the network because we as a citezen of our country most of the people wont agreee on it so they are forced to not shutdown the net. Though if the government will ban bitcoin in country it is really possible because there are countries that is banning the uses of bitcoin in their place

Depending on what jurisdiction you are in, your government may have the right to temporarily pull a kill switch on the Internet. The main purpose of internet kill switches is to either prevent some sort of cyber attack or or when the government feels there is a national threat.   Bitcoin is one of the most resilient pieces of software around, it requires the availability of the internet in order to operate. In the unlikely case of a complete Internet shutdown Bitcoin will go down with it, however not all will be lost.

If they are using VPN on their i think there was a little chance that it will be possible that they will have an access to the internet. If they know how to use it and create it as well. But i think if will that happen we cannot earn bitcoin anymore. It would be very hard for us that thing. But if we want we will make a way to that thing.

Honestly I have watch some documentary I forgot what's the title of the documentary but it was about anonymous,
There was the part of the documentary where the government shuts down the Internet in their country and the anonymous help the Country to get connected again in the internet,
So I think even if the Governments shuts down the Internet we would still find a way to activate it and use it.

If that happens, boy I believe we will see a massive revolution take place internationally. People will take over eventually and some institution will be created. I'm not sure what the world will look like after that though. Perhaps a society where bitcoin is the primary currency.

I don't think it is possible to shut down the internet, I mean it IS possible but no government will ever do that on purpose. Perhaps during some war in the future one country will do that to their enemy. But then there will be chaos because many services (medicine, transport, etc.) depend on the internet. I also think it's easier to shut down the electricity altogether in that case scenario.

Not only people but also governments of all countries will not be able to give up the Internet. Could greatly hurt the economy. The maximum that can go to the government to ban access to certain sites on its territory. Such bans can be easily bypassed and will not achieve any results.

As most of the users stated, government will never make plans of shutting down the internet. These days each and every form of functioning is happening through internet. A small fall in the internet access has made governments stun and has also got added to the history. So internet will be developing big rather than falling low or getting shut.

This is true.  It also worries me.  I also think that it is possible for the government to shut down internet access.  I believe the reason that cryptocurrencies are working and is in the market is because governments are allowing it.  
They wont allow anything that they cant control and would cause future problems.  I guess there has to have any back ups with this online money.  

Why to ban bitcoin the government will ban whole the Internet on their territory? It's wired and not modern. I think they will use other ways if they count bitcoin as something illegal. Just like in China where Facebook can't be used and Google too. 

well if ever they did it I am sure that there will be an organization that will make a way to get connected again on the internet as we all know there are many groups who are experts with the modern technology. but I think the government will never shutdown the internet as they are also getting a benefits from it, I doubt that they don't.

Today it would be impossible to shut down the internet or restrict any serious part of it as our whole infrastructure and monetary system is based on networking capabilities.

Yes it would never be happen. Government will not shutdown the internet because it has a big purpose now. Almost all of the right now was controlled by the technology and this technology mostly need internet. If it happen that government will shut down the internet many people will be affected not only people but also their jobs and businesses.

A crazy thought, and I'm sure this will never happen. The internet marks the great development of the whole society, which becomes an indispensable part of human civilization, no government is allowed to forbid its people. Bitcoin is just a small product in the tech world, there are many other important things in the world that need internet activity, so it never stops.

Governments could not ban bitcoins since they could not ban internet.Bitcoin remains decentralized and alive these much days only because it functions through internet.If it was a physical currency unlike internet currency,it would had been controlled by governments much before.The governments would have banned it much earlier.So,internet is also a main reason for bitcoin survival.

Internet became a resource. Maybe the most important one. No government will try to oppose it. If anything they will try to exploit it with skilled technicians.
That means Bitcoin is here to stay. It is just too late for governments to roll the internet back. I Wouldn't worry.

I don't think that such scenario can happen.
In some countries Internet became ''human right''.
Most jobs today depend on the Internet.
Without Internet, we will have great chaos and confusion.
A much more realistic scenario is that some governments try to block bitcoin in the future.

There is no justification for any government to close down the internet for any reasons firstly, running of some government affairs depends on internet, communication links in military and transportion is going to be affected rather than closing the internet I think the Government should ensure proper regulation of the internet to check fraudulent activities perpetuated by fraudsters.

What will be the reason for the givernment to shut down the internet? They cannot do that because we are now living on an era wherein most of the daily transactions badly needed the internet. Aside from that, many government agencies and departments uses internet. There is a very low chance for the government to shut down the internet.

Yea I think so too. If they shut off the internet it's basically them committing suicide since they heavily use the internet themselves. Not to mention all the jobs that will be lost when they do shut it off. But the odds of that happening are far below zero in my opinion.

I do not know whether it is possible to store bitcoins offline, but in any case this is a great idea, because otherwise it simply can not have a worldwide scale.

What if Governments Shutdown the Internet?  :D :D :D

Governments in plural never work together and agree on the same thing. How do you imagine countries that don't like each other like Japan and China would go about it? If China decided to ban the Internet, Japan would say "citizens of China, buy cheap wireless internet from us!"
If a country like the USA banned the Internet they'd have riots in every city. People would stop working and block the streets. There would be total chaos and anarchy.

You can store bitcoins offline, on hardwallets, paper wallets or physical form. But for transaction you need internet. If you want that transaction is recorded on blockchain.

The government will not do that, the government needs the internet too. Internet is not want its a need and everybody needs it, almost all companies relies on internet connection. No reason to cut it instead they must improve it.

Yes, under the current set-up and environment, it seems to be impossible that all the governments of the whole world would decide to cut off the internet in a synchronized fashion. They could not even unite on climate change...how much more on internet when they know that there would be outrage coming from the people.

However, if there would be another global war then it is possible that internet connection can be affected because we are still using physical infrastructures in delivering connection from country to country. The undersea cables can be sabotaged and this can leave majority of us unconnected.

Killing the internet for clumsy reason can be a suicide for any government and that is why so far nobody attempted such a crazy idea. Even Putin and Trump are not thinking of such because all industries and even the government itself can be affected.

Why would the government shutdown the internet just to stop Bitcoin? They are not idiots to do that. Many are dependent on the internet. Most big time companies and businesses depends on the internet in order for them to provide their services. So will the government act stupidly and shutdown the internet? An absolute NO.

There is a "physical Bitcoin" or token that exist (I forgot what it is called) but there are only few of them.

The government will not dare to shutdown the internet globally just to stop people from using Bitcoin. Many countries depends on the internet specifically the companies and businesses who offers their services online as well as the government uses the internet in order to govern their country effectively and efficiently. Internet has become part of our lives and shutting it down will be a chaos.

no. it won't happen why? because, internet has benefited us and the government also so, why the government would think about shutting down the whole cyberspace? although the governments have the control over the internet but they gain benefits from it and, the citizens in every country will be riot or rallly the government it would only result in total chaos.

Of course, the government cannot shutdown the internet. If they would do that, they would face a thousands protests, and situation would become extraordinary...

In a modern society everything works and relays because of the internet and no government will shut down the internet just like that,they could implement certain restrictions but as a user i will never abide by the rules and as a netizen i have the rights to use according to my wish without harming anyone,so it is just a speculation and i guess you are from a net restricted country. :D

How can the governments shut the internet down? Is it technically possible? I don't think it's a doable thing. If they do so then the [Suspicious link removed]munity will have serious problems.

I think if the government shutdown the internet the social or internet life will be perish along with the cryptocurrency because the cryptocurrency need an internet and gadget to access with, So I think that will be a very bad news to us and I think that will be impossible because many people are going to complain about that.

I don't think government will banned the internet, they also uses it, internet is so powerful and also social media, even the reporters uses internet for us to know a lot and have a knowledge happening in our country so I don't think they will banned the internet.

Even North Korea has a form of internet. No government would want to suffer the type of recession that would be caused without an internet connection at best they will cut it off from outside countries or censor it like China currently does.

Government can easily shut down any site they desire to. They have this so called power that will work to literally everyone. And in my personal opinion, if government starts to fire an issue that internet will be completely shut down, everyone will go against it, we at least 70% of the human being who are internet  users. 

Exactly. His prediction or theory is totally nonsense. People now lives with the internet. It can treated as a basic needs of a person. Internet shutdown will just lead to a huge crisis all over the world.

I guess, the government do not have enough reasons to shutdown the internet.   Censoring the use of internet will greatly affect the economy of any country considering the fact that many business nowadays depend the flows of their business transaction via internet.  Many people will possibly lose their jobs and the government will not allow that to happen because the number of unemployment will increase  and chaos will be experienced.  If the government cannot shutdown the internet, meaning, nothing can prevent Bitcoin to be famous and patronize by everyone.  

It will never going to happen.. Government can't shut down/ban internet..
Just think this way, we are not only using internet for cryptocurrency.. But we are using internet for all purpose.
We are living in a modern generation now, where internet is very important for our daily living.. Now its part of our life.
Government organizations, banks, schools, colleges, universities, companies etc etc use internet daily. So how can government shut down/ban internet?
Internet can only be shut down for few hours max for maintenance purpose only and government must announce it before doing..

How we will reach to the potential buyer/seller of bitcoin without internet? And don't you think physical bitcoin will be very hard for any kind of transactions?

Yap because a government can gain economical gains via internet businesses by its citizen. Because most businesses are now going online it would be a disaster if a certain government were to ban any connection in world wide web. And i think they wont shut down the net with just btc as the reason. If they were to shut it down maybe by the reason that here is hacking controversy so it is not just that easy to shut down internet.

To be exact government cannot shut down internet permanently that easy because right now it is a basic need for the citizens nowadays. Even if they can censor internet there are a way around it, which is VPN or like apps that changes internet tunneling protocol. At the very least they can try to stop bitcoin but they can't shut it down completely.

Yes I agree on this. Like this is absolutely absurd.
Even in communist country never shut their internet. Internet nowadays is like food in everyone. Everything and every where needs internet.

For my own perspective with the question, I guess this is very impossible to happen now because government know that internet is one of the needs people now especially the communication all over the world and some government agencies totally use internet to access to other agency. So I guess this will not happen just because of bitcoin, they have to consider things around before implementing the stoppage of internet in each country. It will never ever happen.

If the government shuts down the internet then there is no denying it that bitcoin will be also useless. But this kind of view is impossible since the government itself is working with the use of internet. Online transactions are being integrated in the government linking the public and the government though online government website. Not only that, almost all country are engaging billions of money worth of transactions online just for example the stock market. If they decided to crush bitcoin then they will also placed the whole economy in the cliff of bankruptcy.

Thus it is a foolishness in the side of the state to shutdown the internet since the adverse effects will be global that will possibly lead to an economic breakdown.

I think these could not be happen that government shutdown the internet because internet now is a basic needs and not just wants to all.

If goverments shut down the internet, well I think the world will turn upside down.
Nowadays every little things including jobs, marketing, etc, are using internet connection.

It's true goverments have its own way to blocked any websites they desire to.
But everyone also knew the so-called vpn.

This will never happen in my opinion, the Government will never shut down the Internet since we are all going to be affected by this if this thing is really going to happen, they are not that stupid to do such thing just because of a certain thing about selfishness or envying something that they don't have. The Government is not that narrow minded to do childish thing like that, it is very immature, unless they have a valid reason why they are going to shut it down.

If the internets shotdown all over the world.Will be affected not only in net working but all electronics transaction will not work .Maybe the world will be all conflict and complicated.

Internet are accessing to global finance
is it can be monitoring? maybe yes
but is it can be shutdown? maybe not
so why on some country government filtering access to some webs? it is because of your internet provider
you can trick it using vpn or using other tunnelling
how to safe using internet? many answer on google

That's true, even at the company offices they also needs internet to communicate to their clients, so that they can work easy and fast what if there is no internet? This will be a crisis to all of offices workers and also to those who only works online. So I don't think governments will shut down the internet. It is really non sense.

If the government turns off the internet, it will not happen any online transactions in the world, and it will be very much a problematic system, because most systems currently use the internet, so not just bitcoin, even the airport will also be problematic.

Does the government, any government for that matter, have the capability to shutdown the internet? The answer is a clear and firm no. They may regulate, yes. With respective penalties for possible violators, of course. Because if the people do not want to follow any policy regarding regulations, they can. The internet is always there.

Okay, let us try to consider because the concern is basically situational. You know what will happen if the internet is shutdown? I don't. That is simply beyond imagination. I would say the entire world would go crumbling down rock bottom. Much of the entire world's systems--commerce, governments, and so on--rest on the internet.

Chaos will rule.   

I don't know if they can shut it down but they can certainly regulate the internet of their country. honestly this topic is unnecesarily broad since we all know that most things in this worlds depends on it, so let's try to make it more specific one since his main concern is just about the bitcoin.

Governments joining forces together to ban bitcoin internet seems to be more possible than banning the internet and a one country/government banning bitcoin is the most possible situation to happen. In any case we can use proxies/vpns/tor but I'm sure other things might get invented in the future because we have a good community.

It is never going to happen, as there will be widespread anarchy and chaos. ;)

I agree with that there will be a lot of chaos if bitcoin is prohibited as an alternative means of transactions by the government even if the government can also block the internet network of people using bitcoin then everyone will protest about it that happens only anarchy.

if governments shutdown the internet, then i am sure that many aspect in many country will be got some problem because we know that many business from economic, politics, social and else is connected with internet. and if this is happen, then i think there will be chaos in every where although is only chaos in internet world but maybe its give affect in real life too.

That will never happened for now or in future. Most of the transaction, banking, IT projects and plant automation are all moving and connected via internet connection only.
If they do that most of the tax payers and corporates will pressure them for internet.

First things first nobody owns the internet as we are thought in school but we do believe that the government has access on it. But what will happen if they shut it down? It won't cause any good to them and all of the citizens of that country. We use internet in the offices, banking, etc. everything will be affected once this happen it will be so chaotic so i think this will be the last thing the government wants to happen

I ve seen lots of stupid threads here which get opened only with the sole purpose of OP pumping up post count so they could join some sign campaign. However, this one is the KING of stupid threads. Well done OP, well done.

What if Governments shut down internet?????? WTF!!!

Yes that's true! It cannot be happening that internet will be shutdown, or else there is a world war happen in every nation, may be it happen to shutdown all technology line!

Internet is basically decentralized and no governement really controls it. Anyway, there's another concern about it, because the Internet is not available yet in many parts of the world and also there could be temporary problems in connection, online access, etc. In my opinion, for a most complete Bitcoin experience, we need to find a way to make Bitcoin payment offline too, without the need to use an Internet connection. Yes, there are physical coins, but there are not enough.

Do not overthink things.  Why would the government do that considering that companies who provides internet connection are great contributors on the economic of ones country.  That would call for a revolution since people are so attached to the internet.  Many jobs will be affected if that will happen.  Economy of the country would suffer.

Hmmm. I don't think one country can block the whole internet connection because they want people to not use bitcoins. It is possible when the former internet in that country is already block but shutting down the internet to a country that is once have that connection, there will be chaos among people and internet providers and the government and also private sector and companies who uses the internet. And people will only think that btc is worth fighting for if they do that. This will be a long fight of opinions, rights and freedoms.

I thought it is a troll thread but some of them are really arguing over what may happen.  ???
Well, the first thing that will happen is, you'll know the names of your neighbor and you'll get to know where your brother or sister is.  ;D

If viewed from the current internet function, of course the government will never turn off internet for any reason.
Because function of internet today is a fundamental requirement for survival as well as economic circle in many countries. Many business sectors require Internet as an access to business and other activities. Bitcoin always has a bond with internet connection in doing its activities as well as other transactions.

If the government shutdown the internet it will happen is the transaction is useless anymore. And the governments will have a big problems to face like connection to the other countries. No more communications to each other especially in other countries. This will be a big problem especially it affected our job online or works. Internet is very important in everyone we cannot do anything if we don't have internet connection. Internet is very important to us this may affect our daily life, and the people get angry to the governments because most of the people depend on the internet all over the world.

Yeah, government will shutdown internet just to shutdown bitcoin. They might as well shutdown mobile and telephone networks as well, it can be used for bitcoin too. Oh stupid me, they'll have no means of communication. They might as well shutdown the government then. Nice try op, this won't happen.

You'd be surprised. I think they severely restricted internet access to citizens in certain countries during the events of the Arab Spring. You need an autocratic regime to facilitate something like this, but not so far fetched.

But in most modern world societies, internet connectivity is damned near a right. I don't ever think my gov (US) would go this far, even in the event of a fire sail. Too many other services, vtal and non vital, depend on the net; this would effect cops, doctors, travel, communication.. I believe bitcoin would be the least of your worries at this point.

Besides, given the current state of congestion on the network, it's cheaper and easier to simply spam the network to death. It's happening organically on ETH whenever there is an ERC20 token ICO; how hard would it be to permanently supress a less adaptive network, when you have a nation's resources at your disposal?

What kind of idea is this, shuting down the internet? Whe are not in North Korea. You have forgotten that many governments also depend on Internet too and without this the colapse will happen in many areas and functioning would be seriously threaten. Give up thie childish ideas and get serious.

It's a very well said! However if that case will probably done I think the government are doing such a poor mindset, if the internet are going to shutdown the owner are leadeth to bankruptcy and there will be no taxes in government. I think if government will do such thing Im sure that there will be a great downturn economic activity. Cryptocurrencies are hard to be used. What bitcoin will be? I think it is hard for us to encounter it when internet will shutdown, those investors are deficit because there are no more connections in their co-investors as well as the buyers.

I doubt a government can shutdown the internet, particularly in the developed world were you can't do a single thing without a list of restrictions, laws and public attention, this isn't Castro Cuba or Syria, The internet won't be shutdown on whims, and asking "what if" is the same as asking about a Zombie or Alien invasion etc.. highly unlikely and next to impossible, a waste of time to consider.

The event will bring the government more harm than good. Bitcoin is still too infrequent to affect the country's economy, and the collapse of government without the Internet may come now. Way back in the stone age for the man anymore.

Man, EVERYTHING will be paralysed. Modern world is so used to be on the net (which is appeared not so long time ago actually) that shuting down the Internet will become just a catastrophe.

Saying its not possible is not what I would subscribe to because when the benefit of shutting down the internet is more than the cost of leaving it on due to some extreme situations, then they will because they can and that means that everything will be on stand still with several businesses put on hold, flights aborted, shipping line stopped, train stations stopped working, banks in crises in short the world in turmoil but let's hope it didn't get to that because under extreme cases, survival is paramount and internet is secondary.

I also think that the whole world will be on a chaos if they will shut down the internet because almost all the people and businesses and other activities are connected in the internet and government doesn't have the right to shut down the internet because there is a lo of people will get angry of that and it will be a bad image for the government.

well it sounds a little funny, If you want to go back to the oldest era then ban internet. Without internet we are nothing in this world. Through internet we are communication different people, dealing people getting information. Getting more benefits so i will say about this question as a stupid question and stupid step by government.

I am all for freedom of speech, etc. However, I really wish the government would censor pornography.

Lol yeah that's the impossible thing to happen. Might happen if there is an interplanetary war or the like lol. But that is not possible. I think the internet has become part of the future and needs. Impossible to turn off the internet while all human need internet today

this could be impossible thing to do with our government we are not in north korea when the year of they having real time to limit there selves to visit internet because if they do they will got arrested for violaing that law to be honest in my country it is really impossble for our government to shut down the internet we are now at the new world and new technology that runs the whole world.

Most of the transactions not just on bitcoin are driven by internet. So government can evenly put their hands to control the access of internet because all the sectors of the economy will be affected and that will be a great lost to them. Also, if the government will do that thing it will be a wide global economic issue because many people will rant that can lead to a big chaos. Government must do their part on a proper manner, and I think doing that thing just to stop bitcoin transactions is unethical way to do so.

It would be impossible to get all governments to agree to shut down the internet and even if they did it would cause a depression worse than ever seen before because literally every single company on the planet is dependent on the internet nowadays.

But if we imagine they did then crypto will obviously be dead. I do think however the internet would survive in some form even if it was actually banned.

Government will not shutdown the internet just because of the cryptocurrencies because most of the people and businesses are now dependent in the internet and i think they will just ban cryptocurrencies in their country rather than shutting down the internet because it might cause a huge damage on the economy of different countries that will be affected.

Lol wait what.


The Gov shutting down the internet would be pure madness. Esp if its just to deal with crypto.
As people have already said above, it would mess with the current economy way too much to warrant it.

Lol even in north korea though. Their government will not be too dare to take risks by turning off the internet in their country. The internet is the technology of the future. A country will not be able to remove the internet because it will cause unrest and chaos to the citizens. Because all citizens today use the internet

Yes only the government does not think that will turn off the internet network in the country. A country will also be destroyed when they do not have access to the outside. There will be many people who fall into poverty as the economy declines. Maybe this is just a war that can make a country lose internet access . Internet is important today so this is a very vital thing.

That could happen but if it did, losing your bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies is probably going to be the last of our problems in a society that depends so much in being connected, the fact that governments could take such measure tells to us something way bigger is going to be happening at the time.

If government shutdown the internet then I believe there will be an economic crisis.  There will be chaos on the transaction between different companies and banks.  Not only Bitcoin network that will be affected but the whole internet ecosystem.  Many providers will shut down since they cannot offer their services anymore.  Those that rely on internet selling will automatically stop and lots of people will be jobless and have no means of earning for some time until they find an alternative.  With this effect, I think the government will never shut down the internet but rather would only regulate them.

That's true, a lot of company would really suffer if that will happen, but I don't think that it will happen because nowadays social media is very powerful and we can say everything what we want because its our freedom, we can do anything with the internet and we can communicate to other countries using internet in an easy way.

First of all we need to think that is it possible for the government to shut down the internet ?
Why will government shut down the internet when almost all the government institutions are using the internet for their operations ?

There is no possibility for the government to take any such action. Though the problems discussed will not happen but if something like it happened will not only cause a tension for the bitcoin but for the rest of the things as well.

I don't think that it's possible for the governments to shut down the Internet. To shut down the Internet, they will have to give up a lot of benefits themselves and there're a lot of online service they're providing so if they shut down the Internet, they will take more disadvantages than advantages.

I do not think they would what to go that route considering the advancement of new technologies and the Internet being at the centre of almost everything from the banking sector, space exploration, scientific research and the alike...but  if our Governments were to shut down the Internet that would render our cryptocurrencies useless.

TL;DR:  Yes.

See, for example, some discussion of the offline transmission of wood and paper token concept at

https://thecryptosphere.com/2015/05/19/rebuilding-communities-and-identities-with-usb-sticks-and-love-by-anonyodinn/

People tend to forget that NFC capacity is built right into bitcoin so that makes it easy to scan and do all sorts of things with, without actually having to have a full "online" system completely operational.  There have been whole discussions about transacting without confirmations and consensus (to a certain degree, in other words without a great many people available to do so until a network is developed or recovers) and YES IT IS POSSIBLE, I don't want to have this conversation all over again.  So I won't even go there.  Will not beat a dead horse.

See the total offline setup with minimal hardware requirements (though you'd also need to add some small solar panels and ideally a small battery bank - you can buy all this solar energy stuff you need in REI sporting goods store nowadays)

http://betteroffbitcoin.com/a-protocol-for-offline-bitcoin-over-radio-transactions/

Note that you will need to have this set up (with written instructions on paper) before a major event hits such as a power outage / natural disaster / war problem.  But yes.  It is absolutely possible and not only that, people are doing it.  

Also, it's possible to broadcast bitcoin txs over television (which doesn't require internet and doesn't require MURS radio setup... but if the power goes out regionally so does the TV.  

However, I should point out that it's possible to do it via TV, anyway, which doesn't rely upon internet.  It's also already been done so it's not just a hypothetical as in "what if we could."  Since it has already been done in (a couple) countries, I've suggested that it also be tried in China as an anti-censorship mechanism.

They will never get rid of their TV, so.... you know, ride the wave.

First of all do you think government will do that just because of transacting of by using bitcoins? They can banned sites to access it but to shutdown the internet is a big problem for the government .Establishments and government uses over the use of internet will stop .Almost all of the things now were run by internet connections the security , banks etc. Don't ever bother yourself thinking up on that things instead do your best to make out bitcoins if you need .

If governments will shutdown the internet then bitcoin will die because bitcoin can only be found in the internet so if the internet will be shutdown by the governments then there is no sense of having bitcoin so i think it is better to just hold the 50% of our bitcoin and exchange the rest in cash so we can avoid getting stuck to this worst case scenario.

As far as all internet goes, no one ever blocks the WHOLE internet. Some countries can but again, Internet is not the only network in the world. Besides that, you have peer-to-peer transactions so if government want to look at all traffic (including encrypted) they would need to install enormous scrapers on data-centers

No. Stopping the internet will mean stopping governments that means stopping the people and we are the people

It will never happen
internet is like a blockchain if you close one end, It will pop-up from another end
Government runs on we the people

If governments shut down the internet,  I don't know what I am going to do with them. Many people will complain about this. A lot of businesses rely on the internet, remittances transaction, online shop. Internet shut off together with their business. The government will also shut down because some big companies paying their taxes and that taxes is one of their source of income.

Well, the use of internet is considered a right already, so if the government shuts down the internet, it is already a violation of our basic human right. And I don’t think it will be to the best interest of the government to disable the internet as most of their services rely on internet as well. That would just be counter productive and would just create an uproar among the citizens.

The government doesn't own their switches and routers that they could just "power off" to stop the Internet. Definitely, they are having their own organization, but this will not destroy the Internet. I don't think so that the Internet can be "shut down" by someone because the internet includes the huge amount of data and info as well as the huge figure of companies (ISPs) involved.

I dont think any government want to "KILL" own economy by stop using internet for all country person. But yes, in any critical situation any government can stop internet. Many times we find that government stop internet is some specific areas at the time of " big RIOTS"
And using bitcoin without internet,Physical Bitcoin is not good  idea, you can't buy anything from foreign countries because of it increase fees / transaction fee/

If the internet somehow get shuted down,governments itself will get affected as modern technology depend on internet,If internet shutdown then we will go back to middle ages simply because most big companies will shutdown (microsoft,google,facebook etc..) you can imagine the rest lol..

It won't die, the internet is only the one that will die, bitcoin will remain out there and we can't only use it or access it since the Internet is going to be shut down by the Goverment. Bitcoin is decentralized so it won't die no matter what happens, it will just going to exist but going to be useless since no one is going to use it anymore for example.

But if this thing is really going to happen, then all of the process of all the Cryptocurrencies here in the Crypto world because no one is going to manage it without the Internet. 

It will never gonna happen, if the government shutdown the internet, the world will have chaos. A lot of people will protest about it, especially business man. Their money are save on the internet, their bitcoins and a lot of cryptocurrency owners will get mad by the government.

Imagine a world without internet, all things will get back tge way it was. The world will be simple but slower than today. Everyone needs the internet nowadays, they cannot shut it down, or else the people will shut them down.

That could kill amazon, online banking and cause trillions in lost revenue.

A complete shutdown may not be a likely scenario, instead some type of filtering or censorship policy would be preferred.

Censorship/internet filtering is terrible for online gaming btw.

Everyone's ping will be much higher if such a thing ever goes into effect.

I think it is unlikely that it will happen, because without the internet the government will run slowly, if it is not possible to turn off all its internet network because there will be chaos where, the economy will be stuck, many banking in demo because the customer will withdraw his money, different from bitcoin, It can still be used in other countries without any difficulties and requirements.

In the first place what's the reason of shutting down the internet?It can only cause chaos to everyone.We are on our new generation,and almost all of the technologies are manipulated through the internet.So it's very useless to shut it down.All transactions will not be realized,and it will just create negative actions from the people and those who are concerned.

Yes I agree.  That would be so impossible considering that internet is vital in our government.  All data and information about everything and anything on its people uses internet.  They will not give up something that is so beneficial with them.  And in case they will do it, for sure there would be a world war III.

It is really impossible that the government will shutdown the internet. The government can't shutdown it because they are not holding the internet and also they don't have a reason to shutdown it.

Not possible in any advanced country and the case for an election is temporal, on a prolonged basis, no government has what it takes to effectively shut a country out of the internet. The governments are actually helpless with Bitcoin - crytocurrency in general else long ago would they have taken it under. Something not quite obvious, is the fact that the governments  that tried to stand in the way of Bitcoin actually ended up promoters of Bitcoin because people become  inquisitive about Bitcoin and hardly let go after discovering it.

What if Trump nukes the entire world?
What if a gigantic asteroid hits our planet killing all life?
What if the Earth suddenly starts to spin in the opposite direction?

....what if you stop smoking pot for just one day? ... then maybe you'll stop asking your "what if" questions.

I don't believe the internet could be shut down. Look at the infrastructure that's based on the Internet. All the IoT devices that need a constant connection. It would be disastrous.

All governments of the world cannot come to a conclusive decision to shit down the internet because they can't all agree without a different view from other governments and besides the internet is usable globally so any attempt to shut it down will affect everyone else including governments machinery and their daily operations so it will be difficult for them to decide against themselves.

I think not much different from other countries, many unemployed are now starting to get jobs from bitcoin ;D

i think no government can afford to shutdown the internet. internet in now using officially in ever office. and i think it will be a great damage for a government if they shutdown the internet for a single day. bitcoin is no doubt depending on the internet connection but i think there i no thread to bitcoin from internet side, because internet will be there forever and is really getting improved from time to time.

   The Government has the power to shutdown internet especially on big countries but the problem is that if they do their would be a big chaos around the world because most of our technology in our generation now is run by internet and if it goes shut down there would be a big downfall in economical and in our technology in our world but what can the government can do is that they cal block bitcoin from processing if they don't want bitcoin but I think they will not do that because bitcoin has not done anything illegal in the internet or the people who are using it and they can actually earn more money if they start investing on bitcoin especially businesses that run by the governments. So there are a lots of positive things that can the government that can benefit on bitcoin that negative and I do think that sooner or later they will join and bitcoin will spread around the world.  ;)

Government will be having no reasons to stop internet hence why government would ban Internet.
Bitcoin has ability to bring some happiness in to our life. I think if they will take any action about banning people will do protest against it and will put pressure on government to lift ban from internet and bitcoin.

If your government shuts down the Internet, do a reality check. You might have spent such a long time inside your room that you didn't know your country has a new president and you're in a communist country now. Once they shut down the Internet, that means they are not open to other countries anymore. You can't get information from other country and vice versa. A lot of establishments will close down. Almost every company relies on the Internet. Marketing, advertising, agriculture, every single field has already upgraded their hardware and is using the Internet to make it even better.

It's such a dumb decision to shut down the Internet entirely just because of bitcoin. That's like burning down the whole house just because you saw a spider inside.

Even the Chinese can not make control over the Internet within their country. So what can we say about attempts at world control? I think even if there is an attempt to capture the nodal points, then the crypt owners very quickly on the basis of the existing will conduct alternative networks)

I think the government can do anything. They have any authority within a country. They can close the internet access of a country. Such as a country with a closed system. The government is very likely to turn off the internet But in the current era it seems impossible

I also agree that the government have the power to control the electricity and Internet itself. If there is a reasonable thing to consider. But if they going to do it to stop the transactions maybe it is not that a big thing to consider for them to disconnect the internet for the both providers and the people who using Internet for personal purposes and transaction through bitcoin. It for me it is possible but it will not happened as far as the system of bitcoin developed and adopt to the changes of technology.

Yeah they can shut whatever they want down but they will lose more than they can earn by shutting down the Internet. Maybe they can not earn anything by that but they will lose more things like can not contact to anyone, it's a bit difficulty

if Governments Shutdown the Internet all the bitcoin in the world will lost

I think if the government will shutdown the internet it will be a big mess. Almost everything depends on the internet nowadays, business, education, economy, almost everything depends on the internet. Technology use internet for faster program. Almost half of economy will down in that point when internet shutdown.

if there's a will there's always a way and that's how crypto people thinks so even the government will try to shut it down for sure many resources will be
use to start anther ways as crypto will leave and no one or nobody can stop that, look into the bright side instead and focus for more development.

This scenario will be never happen. If ever internet is shutdown. Then there will be no connection with online news. There will no news update directly. No one will aware from different countries. Currencies will be goes down. They will lost their values. If it is happen. Because internet is connecting people around the world.

The possibility of government to shutdown the internet is very low. The Internet, is not just related to bitcoin. With the presence of the internet, it proved to have helped many people in many ways. So why should the government have to kill something that has been proven to be very useful for our lives?

If governments shut the internet down, Bitcoin would still exist, but would be essentially unusable.

As you said about infrastructure. In my views there is no life without internet. If there is no internet how people would serve. So how people will know about the world that what's going on even you may know that without internet we are nothing. If you want to visit any country you get there picture first then visit. So this is poor step by government

Thats true dude, besides internet has become the main requirement for all human. Even government systems, finance, banks, etc depend on the internet. If the internet is dead of course all the bank's financial activity will be paralyzed. I'm sure the government will not do that

Come on man please talk with some sense. Why would the government shut down the whole internet just for bitcoin. There are currently 16 million bitcoin circulating so lets assume 16 million people have 1 bitcoin but the world population is 7.2 billion so just because the government can't control a currency which only 16 million people have they are going to shut down the internet for 7 billion people. And even if they shut down don't you think people will protest or for how many days will they be able to stop the usage of internet. Think about it.

That's true there will be more disadvantage than advantage if they shutdown the internet. But maybe we should also learned how to put our bitcoin into a cold storage for our safety purposes. But for me it is really impossible that governments will shutdown the internet.

This is not true, and this argument has been so beat to death in so many bitcointalk threads that it's simply not even worth typing out a coherent argument again to explain why bitcoin would actually be fine in such a circumstance.

If its possible for governments to ban bitcoin by shutting down internet,then by this time China and Russia would have done that.Instead,they have dropped their plan of banning bitcoin and have started to regulate bitcoin.Since bitcoin is a digital currency,it could not be used without access to internet.

Seriously!!!!
Why would the government do such a thing if they know the consequences that will follow after that???
Do you really have to ask this question? Cause its really COMMON SENSE!!!
It's just not a goodbye to bitcoin but to the information age as well.

There is no way that the government will shutdown the internet because if they do that, the people will got mad and there will be a big protest and people will against the government. The government will collapse

Yeah that is one of the scenarios that can happen if the government will insists to shutdown the internet because a lot of people will get disturbed because of the shutdown of the internet and it will lead for protesting against the government and it can have a people power which can break the government or make the officials leave from their position especially if the country is democratic.

Age of earth 4.5 billion years
The earliest evidences for life on Earth are 3.8 billion-year-old
Mammals appeared on the earth about 200 million years ago.
Genus Homo evolves 2.5 million years ago
Pyramids are built 4500 years ago.
Personal computers and internet ~ 50 years.

So indeed my friend, life will go extinct without internet.
People will stop travelling. People will stop eating cause they don't have google to search what guacamole is.
They won't be able to drive because they don't have gps.
WE'RE DOOOOOMED!



Cough, cough....North Korea

internet nowadays are part of people primary needs , just like clothes, eat and any other primary things. could you imagine what happened when government decide to ban people to eat? to wear clothes? , it's same thing when op throw his thoughts about shutting down internet , it's a strange thought lol.

I vividly remember when Liberty Reserve was being used by a lot of people, mostly for money laundering and others were using it for legitimate business and suddenly the FBI seized the founder and made lots of people lose a lot of money, i even lost a few, but with bitcoins, i doubt anything of that sorts will be able to happen at all, They dont even know the creator of the currency, and they can shut down any websites affiliated with the currency but new ones will spring up.

Nahhh I don't this would happen, especially just for Bitcoin. Unless you're from a country with a strict type of government, like North Korea maybe? I'm not sure what is the state of Bitcoin in North Korea though... But no, doing such would deprive the citizens of their rights and like what others have just said, would bring chaos. There's a very slim chance for this to happen.

Bitcoin is a DIGITAL CURRENCY. You need some level of internet connectivity to use Bitcoin.
On the plus side, I doubt the internet will be "shut down" by the gov.

If the government shuts down the internet they could lose billions of dollars every second and it will create more chaos since they shut down the internet. But i highly doubt that it will ever gonna happen because no one's controlling the internet, the government can only block some areas for accessing the internet but they can't really stop the internet. And besides bitcoin is not that too important to worry about there's more important thing to be worry about concerning about the territorial crisis.

Yes the government is really powerful that it can do impossible thing into possible one. But in that matter, if the government suddenly shutdown the internet just to stop people from using bitcoin, it will be a great chaos because they would do a rant against the government for restricting their own will to use and have the internet access for their own purpose. Government must be always equip in this kind of situation and do not stop mandatorily its people in getting into bitcoin.

If that will truly happen that government will shutdown internet just to force or stop people in using bitcoin, that will surely result into a large chaos between the government and its people because in our modern world, everything are being accessed through internet. With that movement, people will protest against the government. People has their own will to do bitcoin as long as they are not violating written laws of their own country to prevent that unnecessary action of the government to happen.

They can shutdown the internet if they want but, internet is one of the main source of income knowledge and conversation. If government shutdown the internet connection the some industry will fall down and they will not get high profit. And lot of our country man will suffer.

If the government can stop the Internet it would be tantamount to suicide. Now there is not a single sector of the economy which is not used in the activity of the Internet. To stop the Internet is to stop the economy, transport, energy etc. Who will do this?

That wont be the case,the fact is without internet the entire country could stand still because everything now a days runs smoothly because you have the internet and no government could shut it down,rather they could impose some rules and restrictions.

I think it will never happen because the internet access is vital for today's economy. Almost 70% of businesses always use internet access in performing their work every day. And it's not just bitcoins that always use internet access to make transactions of its use.

Yes, Economic growth has been increased due to the internet only, before it was very difficult to talk with people who are settled in other countries but the internet makes it very easy for us. Right now people are happily booking the tickets and happy traveling anywhere they want by using the internet only. I think it is not at all possible to shut down the internet.

When the internet dies then almost all sytem economy becomes paralyzed. The majority of economic growth is increasing due to bitcoin and today almost most economic systems are connected and require an internet network. This will be a problem and a setback for the state of a country's economy.

That would be totally the biggest mistake they will ever be done, because all of us know that we all rely on internet nowadays, so if they will shut it down many consumers will be mad at it. I myself will be mad or yourself, nowadays many of us can't live without internet that we used in our everyday lives especially the millennials.

So in my opinion, the government can not or they should not shut the Internet down. At least in their own, if they shut down the Internet, they will loose more than they can earn so that they won't shut the Internet down.

In my opinion it is impossible for the government to do that, but if the government shut down the internet, then all the things that digital finance will be screwed up, even the government itself will not have access to security and destroyed

Yes it is true.  It is very impossible that it will happen.  There would be a war if that is the case.  The government will not do that because they will be the number one that will face several problems.  The economy will fall down because of the busnesses that will shut down if the government will shutdown the internet.  The country would be lame and for sure no one wants for that to happen.

It is impossible that the government will try to shutdown the internet over the reason that they want or deny control of bitcoin. Also, shutting down internet like that will cause a major turmoil in their country and they will just make another big problem for themselves, so we should not worry over something that is not bound to happen.

That is correct, the government will be affected by the lack of internet more than the Bitcoin users and so I don't think it will be practicable for them to shut it down because they need it more than us.

That is correct boy. I believe that the government will not be insane enough to shut down the whole internet system because if they do that, we will return to the ICE AGE and we can not do nothing because most of work are on the computer and internet right now

Shutting down the internet is no longer an option, the global network is too important for everyone both individual and institutional.
Services, institutions, merchants, payment operators, police and everyone else are basically a slave to the internet.
I can't even imagine how society would collapse if we had any kind of restrictions that affect access or limiting the internet.

that’s really true that if today we are able to do anything even remaining at home it’s all possible just because of having internet with you now, people are doing internet jobs and earning good money through internet so I suppose it will be very bad if it ever happen.

If my govrement shutdown my internet in my country I would go to capital town of my country and jump in their govrement space and punching them in the face to revenge that.

lol you do not need to take such a big action, in fact now government do not have the option to do so. internet has now become an important part of every government and they cannot shut down internet even for a single minute. and if they will do so, it will damage most of their departments both financially and security  wise. therefore there is no chance to for the internet to shut down.

If the government will shutdown the internet then they will shut down their power and their rulership because with that act people will believe that the government is mad and they now do not understand that how to control the country and so public will shutdown their governance. .

well calm down and do not worry the government can not do this, they cannot shut down the internet connection because this is the modern and technical world now and everyone is dependent on internet, even the rulers' businesses are depend on internet so i do not think that they will harm themselves economically and also the world without internet will be black and white.

I subscribe. The only way to shut down the Internet is to stop all communications, GPS,  4g, 5g. Online services. book stores,  movies stores, shops, banks, Wikipedia. All that.

All forms of government policy are well planned. And perhaps the government will reduce the risk before he decides to take action. If the internet is stopped then consequently paralyze the system in the greeting oemerintaham because the government also uses the internet. And also the community or companies need the internet. If the bitcoin that is banned from using it is very difficult because of the difficult nature of bitcoin is traced to make the government will be confused in stopping the bitcoin trade. I do not think that will happen. Only if bitcoin is not legal may be possible.

I think it is impossible for any government to shutdown the internet. Our world is into technology now and internet is one of those most needed technology in order to cater our needs by shutting it down without any important reason you are actually choking everything from social life to businesses to your own country's economy. We can never go backwards from where we started so what I am only seeing right now in order the government to shutdown the internet is a war which will shut it down temporarily.

I do not think that this happen. The governments are not able to shut down the internet if there is not harm from almost all of the internet. The governments are for the benefit and for the completion of needs of the citizens and if they will not complete them then people will mark them as failed government.

If my governments shutting down the internet then there will be no bitcoin here in my place. And the bad thing is, my country will become very poor since most of modern business already use internet to support it.

The government cannot shutdown the internet its like impossible but they can restrict the people in there country to use internet like what is happening in other country today so it is obvious that bitcoin cannot be use you can send bitcoin without internet connection yes there are offline wallets but goona need to give the storage.

shutting down the internet is not as easy as it sounds as many services depend on this network inclusive of the regulated banks.
If ever the succeed to shut down the internet a lot of business will be affected and international investors would pull out their resources and look for a more favourable place where they can access such services

The government won't shut down the internet, many thing now are depending on internet, the internet now is the important thing in the country, and bitcoin won't work without internet maybe you can exchange private key using offline wallet to make transaction but that will make bitcoin very ineffective

This is impossible the internet today was so powerful even the government i guess cannot shut this down but the government can do something to restrict there people in using internet like was it happening in north korea they are not allowed to use internet in that country so they will not be influenced.

They cant shutdown the internet the internet was so powerful if they shutdown the internet why we can still access the internet they just restricting the usage of the internet in there country maybe some sort of blocking the internet access in there country but impossible to shut it down today I guess.

if goverment shotdown internet can much problem
this Era of information technology industry, without interenet some county economic not growth

Just imagine how all banks and other institutions including GOV would work without internet...
It will be chaos for everybody... or it could be a scenario for a new epic movie... like "2021... without internet"  ;D

Governments can't shut down the internet like we do it at home. Everybody starts to resist so they can never ban bitcoin and prevent us from using blockchain technologies.

It will not happen. Most of this era, internet is the main source of income of every people and especially the government. If this happen we will back like the past years, no communication, not updated in our society, nothing more.

Most of the business is using an internet and businessman don't want to backrupt or find another business without internet related. And it is hard to do, small income, hard job I think and low ideas.

Shutdown the Internet? This is crazy ... it will never happen. The internet has now become an indispensable tool in life and the government is also using it for their purposes, even for military and finance. so the internet will not be shutdown as what you suspect

This is indeed impossible. Turning off the Internet network is just destroying all aspects of the world. Now all the systems in the world connected to the internet network. If it happens then everyone will experience a very strong disruption.

I agree with that. It is really impossible to completely shutdown the internet. The government also uses the net for their transactions and many operations.  The internet is very beneficial and it would need a very deep reason before that happens, maybe a war.

If ever that the internet was completely shutdown then any transaction where bitcoin is needed will also be stopped. I also think that every person who was used to in using the internet will be completely devastated.

Yes and it will not happening internet shutdown by government because the impact will to the countries around the world shutdown internet is like trying shutdown of bitcoins, it will never happens no one who can stop bitcoins right now.
Because between internet and bitcoins will never be shutdown they have connection.

But on the other hand, there are some advantages too... we will meet our friends and other people more often rather than just wasting our life time in social networks... people will become more social and one of the most important - kids will discover old good invention ==> books  :)

In America, if the Internet was shut down indefinitely, there would be a global economic meltdown...and slow recovery. The biggest companies in the world are tech, so this will never happen...

Now a meteor or solar flare causing a major disruption...that's possible. I suppose the evolution of internet/networking/PDAs/Phones could move bitcoin (or something else) from what we call "the internet" today to some other future network.

That's not within the reach of all the governments and is an impossible thing IMO, Government and finance is completely based on the internet as well, so even if the internet main servers are stopped with a government order, everything in today's finance and information transmission would collapse, which is something the government isn't interested in.

There is no possibility that the government will shutdown the internet. Because the government knows how much they will loss once they do it. Because people now a days rely on the power of internet. From educational to business grounds, internet serves a big factor. It is the means of communication and information to everyone.

Government can have some restrictions on the use of internet but not to the extent that they will have to shut it down

Then we're dead in the water, as simple as that. We need an internet to be able to be functional, without one we're just going to be left to be sitting here with our thumbs up our asses, using our own normal traditional gov issued currency. That's the thing that I hate about all of this, is if the government wanted to they could send all of this that we've built over the years all crashing down with one order from one fucked up national leader, it sucks but this is how this all works.

It's just like what if the gov taxes and regulates bitcoin users into oblivion, you can't do anything -- you're just going to have to accept it and move on.

Yes, I believe yes the internet now is an essential part of the life such as food clothes and shelter. The internet is playing a high role in running almost all the activities of daily life, for example if you want to deposit some balance into your bank account you need the internet for it or making a police complain is online, if you want some rescue services you can use both the phone and the online application and also most of the government departments are linked with the internet so there is no such option with the government to shutdown internet.

I am agree with you guys, such an optoin that the governments will shut the Internet down will not happen because the governments are still needing the Internet to do a lot of things related.

bigger things would happened if internet access disappeared, banned or something like that. the thought are too far away , governments wouldn't get any good benefit by doing that , it's just make the situation heating and worst. that scenario won't happened for sure. especially if governments in the future could cooperate with bitcoin user and even use bitcoin blockchain technology which it's happening now slowly.

Not only the government can make the internet goes shutdown because there are some scenarios that can shutdown the internet and one of them is a big war, especially world war, it will shutdown the internet because of the damage that has been done by the different chaotic activities but overall, if we will just base in government then it is completely impossible for them to just shutdown the internet.

I feel that governments have no rights to shutdown the internet. School going children to old people depends upon the internet for real life things. If shutdowns, people will call to government ban.

no way it will happen , its impossible to shutdown the whole internet what are you talking ? even government need internet sometimes , basically internet its almost 50% of what people needed right now , if internet disappear whole things will be changed such a park will crowded again lol

With the internet all countries can be developed and developed if the government wants to turn off the internet is not unusual in the modern era as now because many countries feel the progress with the internet, with the internet all activities at this time can be done inside without having to bother like the era previous.

Dude nobody will shutdown the internet in the whole world. Every people who governs depends on the internet connection we're having. And it is not good for them to shut it down. People will get angry when they do that, and those people might shut them down also.

internet cannot be shut down, need a total apocalypse for that to happen  ;D

I think that government would not go to that extent of shutting down internet to ban bitcoin.It would be a foolish act to do so and if government does it,then it would also affect all the digital transactions carried out in banks and other offices.So,internet could not be banned and hence bitcoin could not be banned.

How? Government can not shutdown the net unless it is a global effort or there is a catastrophe happened. Almost all businesses are dependent of internet in their operations. If this happened, I am sure there is a worldwide protest anywhere on the planet.  ;)

The Internet can not be completely blocked, there will still be opportunities for some sort of detour. In addition, I think that many politicians themselves use bitcoin and it is not profitable for them to block it.

Yes I agree with your opinion, the government closed the internet access? I think it is impossible because this time all require internet access no matter who it is, even the internet has become a daily necessity for many people, and now all its things We all do need internet access such as transactions, trade or other, I think if the country is indeed close the access it will have a bad impact on the country itself

Nope I think the government could just shutdown the internet. The government has any control over their country. But see the centrality of the internet as a key requirement for every country's current population. So it seems the government will never do that