Bitcoin Forum

Some few days back when the forum went down for some hours, some thoughts that I used to have suddenly resurfaced in my mind. What if the internet crashes permanently!  If for any reasons whether natural or manmade the internet suddenly stops working,, what will happen in the world. Unimaginable pandemonium is what will happen, because almost everything is connected to the internet, in fact the world today is so dependant on the internet to transact and communicate almost everything. Be it in finance, telecom, marketing and in every areas of technological advancements, all depends on the internet. It'll seem as if we've suddenly gone back to the stone age, if these where to happen.

I'll focus on finance, so I'm thinking what will happen to the bitcoin inside wallets, what will happen to every fiat currency in bank accounts, if everything erases as a result of internet total breakdown? Who do we hold responsible? I know that the internet technology is manmade, therefore it can not be hundred percent immune to faults and external attacks. And what if there is that less than one chance of it being faulty or compromised, what if that less than one  chance happens,? what will be the fate of the world that mainly depends on it to get things done? I'm no tech guru or a prophet of doom, but this are my thoughts and fears on the matter, although I sincerely hope that I'm very wrong on these thoughts.

I'd love to be enlightened better on why it can be impossible that the internet can never be permanently shutdown, having in mind the shortcomings that I've mentioned?

Straight answer; Don’t think it, we have grown pass that, it can all go off when only some better comes, as off now there isn’t any. So relax and worry about other things

The bitcoins are not in the wallets, the wallets only hold the keys. The bitcoins "are" on the blockchain and copies of it are in a lot of computers all over the world.
The amounts of fiat in the bank accounts are written into databases which for most banks I expect to be backed up securely too.

In both cases people relying on the technology will have to wait patiently until the internet is restored, the things continue from where they left (especially bitcoin) and they get access to their money again.

The fact you compare one forum with a decentralized network like Bitcoin tells that pretty much want this pointless discussion that was started many times before.
An attack like you're saying would come from an intelligent race from outer space. And if so, each and everybody will have more urgent issues than their money.

When you turn off your computer does your data vanishes? No, it doesn't. It just stops at that current state. And when you turn back on again, you are where you left the last time. Nothing will erase. You won't be able to access it but just for temporary period of time. The magnitude of catastrophy you are asking is nearly unimaginable. Almost close to impossible. Just like @NeuroticFish said, it would be possible, only if we were attacked by an Alien force or any being with higher intelligence than us.

It is impossible for all the internet in the world to shut down at the same time, since there are different network providers. So don't think about what is impossible because internet has become like a basic need in the world because we are more into technology than before and the internet is compulsory to enable us make use of this technology

Under normal conditions it is impossible for the internet to stop because the need for internet has almost become a primary need. You don't need to worry, if a problem occurs that causes the internet to shut down globally, many people will try to turn it back on.

But let's imagine the worst thing that happens, the internet shuts down completely due to natural factors that are getting worse. Humans will continue to struggle to survive because with or without the internet everything will be fine, even though it may be difficult at first

What is certain is that OP, if that happens at any time, be prepared for the worst (if the internet collapses) maybe my reasons and yours are not much different because we both know that being able to access and use crypto assets such as BTC and others will be very difficult or not even possible.

and in my opinion, either the government or financial institutions need to prepare an emergency mitigation plan to maintain financial stability before it happens and simulate it first because it is included in the extraordinary event category and the winner is the one who has the gold.


Correct and of course gradual. But, that will happen one day and it's not a bedtime story, that is, it feels like going back to ancient times where the financial transaction system used a barter system, whether in our time or our grandchildren will experience that. Earth's cycle.

It seems to be impossible for shutting down of internet from all over the world at once, but it is possible for it to shut down in a country. Like it shut down 2 time in this year. And we was not able to make any transaction either they are from banking apps or from BTC or cryptocurrency apps. We were totally off-grid and only relying on the money that we had in our banks.

The internet coverage was down for like 4 days, and everything was total disaster, the life slowed down, as a student I face a lot of problems, in the creation of my assignments, etc. I realize at that time, internet has become a catalyze of our life which increase the rate of it.

We all are really so dependent on the internet either for financial purposes or others.

Your concerns are legit, but you have to understand that BTC blockchain is totally decentralized, and those who are validators/nodes downloaded the full blockchain in there computers and synchronize there downloaded blockchain with the overall BTC network. And when one TX is made then it is inserted into the network and then updated on all the nodes and then validated and processed by the miner or validators. Then added to the blockchain. Well, if internet goes down, the synchronization will stop, and no one would be able to make any transaction. As we know each TX need specific confirmation and without them TX cannot be confirmed. I hope now you understand it.

Cable Internet providers can be easily stopped and we witnessed it with the Russia invasion to Ukraine.

Satellite Internet supply is harder to stop but it's true companies provide Satellite Internet is centralized and they can be manipulated by governments or the company owners.

Without Internet, your Bitcoin is still on its blockchain. It's only you can not move your bitcoins at that moment but you can do it when the Internet is revived again and nodes, miners still are ready to back to work.

Unless we are attacked by aliens, there is no way the internet all over the world is going to shut down. The forum can shut down, social media platforms, Facebook, tiktok need maintenance and often times may have a glitch but that doesn’t mean the internet will shut down. There’s been similar threads in the past, I listed some for you to follow up and add to what’s being said here. I asked the question before when the Russia- Ukraine war was heated, so I understand your concerns.
What will happen to Bitcoin Network if the internet shuts down? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5395040.0)
Can you think second if crypto without internets? Impossible right. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5444056.0)
 Suggestion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5456746.msg62422792#msg62422792)

Theymos has already addressed that in one of the thread earlier on why the forum keeps going up and down which is always a server down issue (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5470054.msg62984257#msg62984257).
What you need to understand first is how the internet work. For internet to stop working completely, it means all the communication between the earth and the airspace will stop completely and if that should eventually happen, that means we are going back to the 80s and 70s when there was not internet. However, that is not going to happen, if Isreal shut down their internet today because of war, the rest of the world will continue to use the internet because they don't control other air space, their power is only limited to their country and perhaps some neigbouring countries. So, that is how the internet work.

There are alternatives today even if internet are shutdown, Elon Musk Starlink works anywhere around the world, you need your internet protocol for it to work once you properly installed it. There are also some decentralized internet on the web were you can use internet without any interruption, so chill.

If internet should shut down today, it only stop the computer froms communicating 0 and 1, and they stop right there where the internet was shutdown, if turn back on, nothing will be lost, they will continue from where they stop.
Your assumptions are fictionals, don't think such attack is possible. I think it is because of this kind of possible attack they didn't allow internet to be control by a single country, they made it simple to use and no disturb from other people.

It'd be disastrous, and to be frank, Bitcoin would be one of my least concerns. From the top of my head:

- Instantaneous global communication would cease, which would slow down everything.
- Banking transactions would not be possible because the banking application wouldn't be able to query the banking database. That means incapability of cashing out from your bank account either, as ATMs use the Internet.
- Every business which exists digitally would go bankrupt, completely disrupting the economy. Few of the businesses with physical representation would survive.
- Healthcare services such as health monitoring would be disrupted.
- Smart devices like smartphones, security cameras, smart cars etc., would be compromised and render useless.

By the way. Everybody would go nuts.

This is something imaginable but can never be possible in this age. The internet have developed so far that it cannot be compromised that will lead to the shutdown totally. Before reaching this stage, every possible scenario or case that will lead to the total shutdown of the internet has been put under control and if any will occur in the future, it won’t take long before everything will be restored back. It is okay to have such imaginations but the shutdown of internet won’t take us back to the Stone Age. The eagerness to get back to the internet age will provide fast solutions to this if it ever happens, which is most likely not going to happen because it will be very disastrous if it happens even for a day.

As for bitcoin, The Blockstream Satellite network is one of the solutions that to the event that the internet goes down.

This is directly from their website. The Blockstream Satellite network broadcasts the Bitcoin blockchain around the world 24/7 for free, protecting against network interruptions and providing areas without reliable internet connections with the opportunity to use Bitcoin.

Blockstream Satellite ground stations, known as 'teleports,' participate in the Bitcoin network and transmit blocks to geosynchronous satellites.Blockstream Satellite teleports and broadcast it across a wide portion of the Earth. Anyone in the coverage area with a small satellite antenna and an inexpensive USB receiver can receive these blocks and ensure that their node is always in sync. It provides privacy too for your IP address.

You can read it here - https://blockstream.com/satellite/

No, we would not go back to the stone age! There were still (depending on where you live) Bronze Age, Iron Age, Medieval period, Post-Medieval period, Industrial/Modern Age... So, you could argue that we might regress to the Industrial/Modern Age, but that would not be accurate either because the knowledge would still be around. Just because something suddenly stops working does not mean we cannot rebuild it. Think of it this way, if electric cars suddenly stopped working, would that mean humans never invented the wheel?


If the internet were to stop working globally, Bitcoin would still exist on the Blockchain in individual nodes. The nodes would temporarily lose the ability to chat with each other, but theyd still have all the data stored up. The devs would have to find a new way to establish communication again, and it doesnt necessarily have to be over the internet. As for the banks, it would be more complicated because we do not know their internal organization. Nevertheless, the databases would still be stored on the servers, but they could not make no transactions or nothing.


What shortcomings? Well the internet is not perfect, but it is designed to be pretty resilient. Theres a crap ton of experts and smart folks out there working to keep it running. and even if there are hiccups here and there, they usually find a way to keep things going.

Your answers and links coupled with most of the posts on this topic so far are very comforting, because it shows the faith that the internet can not be shut down indefinitely in every part of the world. However one can't help but sometimes imagine the possibilities of the internet crashing without  a solution, because of our dependant on it in this computerized age. There's hardly anything that you want to do in this present age that doesn't require going through the internet. So despite my belief that anything manmade can damage or be compromised, i still have a deeper believe that the internet can be an exception.

Of course, because we are not connected by satellites instead we are connected by submerged wires, by submerged I mean the wire, under the sea connecting the countries. At first, I also thought that, if all the satellites will go down then we were doomed, as we could not make any TX or use the Internet. But then after researching it.

I came to realize that, we are not connected with other countries with satellites, we share the internet with other countries through wires coming from one country to another.

It was shocking for me, and it solved some confusion I had in my mind. Well, the Internet can also have glitches like the Social media you mentioned above, but not at a global level, because we also faced a huge lockdown of the Internet which affected my life greatly and also helped me to understand the importance of the Internet for us.

When there was no Internet in our country, I came to realize that, the production was so much just due to the internet and when it shut down, life became slower and everything took a huge time.

If the internet permanently shuts down for some reason then its pretty safe to assume you wont need to worrie about most of the things you listed as its quite safe to assume it would be because of teh aftermath of nuclear war or emp. The only issue you will be pondering is where to get food and water if you survived. Also how to escape teh fallout :)
So dont worrie about the finances

Impossibru:

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/h-bomb-and-the-internet

Internet is the first decentralized network (minus the DNS Root servers). Bitcoin is the second decentralized network.

Maybe a massive solar flare (https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/solar-storm-tree-rings-b2429055.html) could shut it down for a few years... :o

That's just it!, just an illusion of thoughts that can never be born , else there's massive destructions involving the whole continent  at large which is still having a less perc. to be considered I guess

Is this a ChatGPT message? ::)

Nope just a normal flow actually, you might be curious of the word else  ;D I'm a dev actually it's just a default way to say the other way round of things :)

When I saw this thread I laughed because the question that's asked is not or can not be possible even till tomorrow, the use of the internet has increased so well that even the little children at home have started using the internet. So it is not possible for the internet to permanently shut down.
Nowadays, there are a lot of jobs people do with the internet and both governments make good use of it, so if any mistake happens to affect the satellite, there will be a total inoperative in the world.
But if the internet is totally shutdown, I don't think it will affect Bitcoin totally.

If the internet wanted to shut down, it would have done so long ago. The term of Java when the world was still operating was 1g, so there is a big difference between knowing the truth and imagining what is not possible for the majority of the world sectors really on the internet, so for it to shut down means the world has already ended, but as long as we are still alive, the internet is going nowhere. because even for entertainment people are enjoying the internet.

If Internet shuts down then nothing works in the universe no communication as you said and probably all sectors of the world may collapsed. But don't ever imagine that anymore because we have grown above that age and there are lots of people who are actively sound to make sure we don't experience any break down and, talking about this forum.. well, what happened is just a common thing and if I am not mistakenly we have witnessed it several times and is not what to be panicking about.

Although internet permanently shutting down is impossible unless it is the end of the world, I will play along with your scenario @OP.  If the internet shut down, it simply means the end of e-commerce, communication will greatly affected, and many company will get bankrupt and shutdown.  We will goes back to snail mail system, and  all online activities will come to halt.  That includes the cryptocurrency industry.

The positive effect of internet permanently shutting down is the need for more postman.  So while many online dependent company are mass laying employee, the post office and other delivery services will be hiring more personnel.


Internet shutting down does not affect the data saved in a storage.  So there will be no deletion of information and one should not worry about his bank account nor his Bitcoin stashed on his wallet address


Who ever the person or group that make the internet to permanently shuts down.  Do we have to think about this?


If the internet shuts down, although many will get bankrupt, the world will continue to move forward.  The communication may suffer a backslash and all industry that is dependent on the internet, the world had survived without these things before hand.  So as I stated, the world will move forward and still survive it is that no more Tiktok and other social media for you.  :P


Communication will not be lost, it will suffer a backslash, it can move backward and can still use telegram and snail mail.  Telephone(cabled) can still be used but obviously there will be a hardship in using mobile phone.  So in communication we might step back in year 1960s before the invention of the internet.

then what will happen is that this world will fall apart because it is not only Bitcoin or exchange groups that use the internet to optimize performance but there are many fields that currently use the internet. So it looks like this will not happen or if it does only happen in a short period of time. Because after all, the internet provider will of course carry out maintenance on anything that is not desired. or in any way to restore the internet. And as long as we still store our data properly, when the internet recovers, we can access our wallet or the platform we use again. I also agree with several members here. If this is something you don't need to worry about too much. because if there was no internet anymore, it could be said that we would be going back to the past.

What can you imagine without the Internet? If the Internet permanently stops, then where will you use your Bitcoin, which is only virtual? Even though you can access your Bitcoin through some other technologies, you still need the Internet to use it in a real-world case. Everything will collapse if the Internet collapses permanently. So this isn't a real concern for Bitcoin anyway.

The Internet can't suddenly break, it's very resilient. But if it will be gone, it would be because there's a much larger problem - a global thermonuclear war, a huge solar flare, total collapse of human civilization, etc. With those events money will no longer matter much, only your survival skills will. So if you are worried about such things, than try to get ready for them.

In the past, human societies did not have electricity but now in the modern world, if there is no electricity completely and at the global scale, it will be a very serious problem for human civilization and surely in that situation, Bitcoin is not the biggest concern.

A lot of activities around the world will be stopped, impacted seriously and massively without Electricity supply. If it happens, we will be in a catastrophe and I will no longer need Bitcoin at that time. Perhaps I will have to concern about how to survive through it first.

Shut down in what way OP? If the internet is down in your country it will never be the same in the next country close to yours on the map, and if you find yourself in a country that bans the internet for example just get a Starlink or esim, the world is now more advanced than believing someone can rob you of your access to the internet,  it can never work as there are good ways to stay connected, do your own research.

Unless some kind of massive wave comes into the world taking with it all the electricity in the world, powerful enough to shut down the satellites in the space too, and that would be interesting, with it? Of cos not, but this happens only in Hollywood movies, there are other things you should focus on right now OP, but this isn't one of should not be one of them.

The whole human civilization needs to collapse for the whole world to be without the internet and electricity, that's not on we humans to decide, that's the creator's business and I pray no such thing will happen, not in my own time if it's meant to happen lol.

Everyone doesn't want that to happen, all the convenience and speed of transactions currently experienced are always expected to run normally until an unspecified time limit. The scariest event that makes the Internet shut down permanently could happen if something happens like a mini apocalypse that shakes the world.
Bitcoin will continue to exist on the blockchain even if the internet no longer exists, your balance in your bank account will be stored neatly in the bank's data. As long as the internet remains inaccessible, Bitcoin will continue to freeze on the Blockchain without anyone being able to touch it.

Internet have been primary needed right now and don't imagine with impossible happening for the future exactly as internet permanently shuts down, have highest or technology development impossible with internet permanently shut down exactly with country have make the internet as important needed for all their activities. One thing possible with internet can shut down but awhile due many citizen complaint their service regarding with internet speed, in my country with internet have slow speed around other countries still can normal operation and many document uploaded in medical healthy with internet, I can't imagine what happen with all activities stopping when internet have been down or not working yet.

Looks when internet have been primary needed less possibility will be permanently shut down.

Electricity is a major factor that powers the internet because without it there'll be no power to open and operate the internet. There are many alternatives to generate electricity, if one source is affected there are other sources to rely on, there are even electric generator machines and solar inverters for homes. But i don't think that there's any alternative for the internet in the case of a worldwide shutdown, although the thoughts have been proven to be near impossible in this thread.

I love bitcoin, so i sometimes wonder if there's anything that can affect or stop it's usage, the only thing i see is the internet. So if internet can not be shutdown, then there's nothing stopping bitcoin as a digital decentralized currency.

Hypothetically, if that happens then Bitcoin transactions will cease but the effect is more than you ever imagine, the economies of countries will take a hit even if there is an internet shutdown for 30 minutes or so, which means governments can't pull that string to stop the bitcoin's adoption and the policymakers knew it too that is why they always go with the restrictions to control the adoption.

Perhaps, you love it so stop thinking about it but rather believe that Bitcoin will even stay for a longer time instead of thinking of its fall.
The Internet era has come and such a great development contributed a lot - lifestyle and we live comfortably. People have already valued the importance of the internet so therefore, I don't see any reason why it will stop.

Might the use of Bitcoin and its existence be over but if we talk about the internet, that is way impossible knowing that it already plays a very important role in the community.

I don't think it will for a couple of reasons.

1. The internet is how the globalists and the WEF control people. Without the control system, people will pursue their own ends and find ways to get food, water, shelter, healthcare, etc from within their own communities. The globalists don't want that. They want everyone to be 100% dependent on the systems that they own and operate.

2. There is already a growing contingent of people and communities around the world who are working on building mesh nets and our own internet service providers. It will take a long time to build and things will be very decentralized but they will be much more resilient against attacks since they don't have a single point of failure like our current ISP system has.

All we can do for now is plan for the worst and hope for the best. Try to get involved in your own local community and see what you can do to build your own mesh network systems and secure your own food, water, shelter, healthcare, etc. If the grid falls out, you will be glad you have at least some sort of a plan.

Actually, Bitcoin should be the least of your concerns, because Bitcoin wouldn't exist as long as the Internet went shut down universally. Nobody could send transactions, nor create new coins, so it'd be an absolute pause. Since there would be no economic network activity, then nobody could sell bitcoin either. The price of bitcoin would pretty much remain the same, because there would not be any volume.

Once the Internet come back after x years, the Bitcoin network could continue operating normally under a hard fork (to adjust the difficulty manually). That would definitely decrease its price.

That's why we need to invest in two worlds, the first is the digital world, of course bitcoin, crypto, shares, and the second is the offline world, for example owning land, property, gold, houses.

Because as the digital world advances, the offline world is also okay because offline is flexible. Meanwhile, if the digital world disappears, for example if the electricity goes out or the internet goes down, we still have an offline world that we can use. And I didn't expect that suddenly the entire internet world would die at the same time, what is certain is that if that happens it will definitely be gradual.

hahaha, Your concern is really excessive, the possibility of the internet shutting down permanently is 1%, this is because people in this world without exception are very dependent on the internet, even international governments in various countries continue to work hard to develop and improve internet infrastructure by continuing to upgrade the world's internet network until Now we have reached 5G, Elon Musk has also started to get involved in making the world's internet network continue to be active through his Starlink project, so you don't need to worry too much at this time, there is no reason for the internet to shut down permanently.

OP, perhaps several things have been answered here about how the internet works. Therefore, before you think that the internet system is completely dead, it is important that you understand how the internet works and what it is for.
Function:

Thus, it is clear, if you have read and understood the essence of the internet, there is no doubt that if the internet goes down completely whatever you store, such as digital money, data, and so on you can't access it anymore, so you really die in virtual life, returning to the era where ancient humans developed at that time.

It means your Bitcoin is gone for good! This is an imagination of the highest order, it will not happen.

Internet could be attacked, but this will only be temporary and will always be fixed, not that it will be permanent to the point of putting the whole world's communication and financial transactions in jeopardy. This is a fantasy and you have to come out of it now, it will not happen.

To shut down the internet system in the whole world is impossible but in a specific region it is possible and many times this occurred in my country. The government I think 4 to 5 times shut down the whole internet system in the country and it caused different issues. The internet is now very involved in the life of a human being it is just like food as you can not survive without food in the same way now people can't spend a single minute. All your system works on the Internet in a country but I don't know how the bank works as we know for the transaction internet is necessary but in our country, the banking system work when the Internet is closed either they just off the mobile network and the wifi system may be worked.

Well it works with signal even though its impossible to make it happened I think there are plenty of ways on how to make it impossible. People live with it and as much as you wanted to make this scenario believable it wont happened so why bother. Cause in our moderate world, no one would ever live now without it. Sooner or later some geeks can invent something that might stronger than the internet for it to work on blockchain somehow.

The what-if scenario makes a person prepare for the unexpected.  I am also inclined to think that the scenario is impossible to happen but without thinking that what if events, a person cannot develop alternative ways if something worse happens.

It is true that in the future people might discover or create development that is far stronger than the internet but as long as it has not created yet, it is always good to think of alternative methods if incase internet is not available.  This is also one of the reasons why we have articles like this: Completely Offline Bitcoin Transactions (https://hackernoon.com/completely-offline-bitcoin-transactions-4e58324637bd)

I'm not feeling confident of buying a house these days (or investing in real estate generally). I mean, look around what's happening. From day to day, your country might join a war. Houses can be confiscated.

If you want to invest some capital go with either bitcoin or some S&P 500 index. The real investment, in my opinion, comes down to your skill set, i.e. how useful you are. Financial intelligence surely helps, but I cannot fathom how one can live poorly if they're masters of a skill.

A frictional scenario like this should not happens. It's not that hard to imagine what would happens because we all know how essential the internet is to maintaining global stability. It will not be possible to maintain cross boarder communication and panic will spread globally. Electronic devices will be usesless and the only communication channel that will be open is through radio signal tower. I think there are a lot of imaginary frictional videos about this topic. 

Repent - maybe the world is not okay.

Internet is a necessity that inevitably must be maintained by every provider. World chaos and unfavorable natural conditions can cause internet outages – but only until everything recovers and returns to normal. All internet-dependent services will go down - but only in locations experiencing internet outages or disruptions, not worldwide.

Bitcoin can be send or receive without internet - have you noticed?


Find out more about the service here: These FAQs are no replacement from what you can learn by using the Machankura service. (https://8333.mobi/faqs)

This is an interesting take on this topic and I fully agree with you.

Assuming that the internet shuts down, in all honesty, bitcoin would be my not on my priority list. There are things that are more daunting assuming the internet shuts down for a brief period in time.

But I do agree with what you mentioned- the data is most likely stored and things would be as it is if ever it comes back. Like what most online games that I have played that servers get temporarily shut down, all of the data is stored and things would be recovered if servers go live again (same comparison with the internet).

The Internet shutting down is just like the whole world shutting down so I don't think there is something so intense that can cause the Internet to shut down permanently that's the reasons why sites undergoes maintenance in other to update the site, review it and make necessary changes if any.

The Internet over the years, have made the world a global village as people communicate with one another all over the world so shutting down the Internet is like blindfolding the whole world as the world requires the Internet to get vital information that will help and solve world problems so I don't think there will be any occurrence that will lead to the Internet being shutdown permanently

If this happened, this world would definitely become a bit chaotic. Because currently almost everyone in the world is dependent on the internet. Because in this increasingly advanced era, the internet has become an alternative for many people in various areas of life, for example for selling, studying, communicating, investing, and also for entertainment. So you could say that the internet has become a very important thing for most people and perhaps it could be said to be a necessity too. So if the internet completely shuts down, maybe the world will experience a slight setback in various aspects.

Bitcoins that have been stored in the wallet will definitely remain in the wallet and will not go anywhere when the internet goes down. However, the problem is that bitcoin seems to be frozen and cannot be moved anywhere and cannot be used (bought and sold). So it could be said that Bitcoin becomes a frozen asset and its price disappears when the internet goes down. Likewise with the existing banking system, if all data is stored on the internet network, then it is certain that all data will not be accessible when the internet is down. And if this happens, everyone will definitely come to the party concerned. For example, people who have savings in the bank will definitely ask for their money to be returned to the bank. But even so, it definitely won't be that easy. The reason is that the bank is also confused because its customer data has been completely lost. So basically the world will be in chaos if the internet goes down.

Actually, no one knows for sure about this. Because no human can see the future. But in my personal opinion, the internet will definitely still exist if electricity remains available. The reason that really supports the existence of the internet is electrical energy. So, for example, if the electricity goes out, the internet will also automatically turn off. But if for example there is still electricity, in my personal opinion the internet will definitely continue to exist and will not die.

 Don't forget that internet is for business purposes, and it will be difficult for the internet to be shut down permanently, because many businesses will crash and many governments will not be happy about such attitude from the internet which they can do something that will make such companies to face the punishment. I think internet can only go off in some minutes or hours when there are somethings to put in order so that it will not affect the internet users, which we have experienced such thing in the internet but those who have never experience such thing like OP will be panicking. Internet is not a something that was just created anyhow, and before governments recommended citizens to be using internet show that citizens bitcoins and fiat money are save no matter what happen at the moment.

We live in a world where the probability of anything happening is possible, i believe that in the 50s the thoughts of the internet were just fantasies, and fantasies can became realities as is the case today. Even the thoughts of bitcoin, a decentralized digital currency that is not owned by any country, and is globally accepted would sound fictional in the 80s, meaning that we live in a world of possibilities where anything can happen. Inasmuch as i don't wish catastrophe on this earth and I hope that the internet does not shut down permanently, i still can't help but think about the possibilities and the impact it'll create because of our dependence on it. The good news is that the chances of such happening is next to impossible and information stored in hardwares can not be erased.

Imagining a frictional scenario like this is very difficult and even possible for it to happen at the moment, unless a Zombie invasion starts to come, like in the film Walking Dead, with all electronic devices dead, satellites dead and only a radio that can provide information. You can imagine human life when the internet and everything doesn't work.
But, yes, this is just a friction scenario that will never happen because the government will continue to maintain stability well.

I know we're dealing with a supposition, a hypothetical situation here. As scary as the painted scenario is, it can still be a reality for the internet to collapse. After all, the internet wasn't there some years ago. So, what makes anyone think there's nothing that can destroy it. Well, at the moment, we all know that whenever we can't assess the internet in our environment we're locked out of  anything that has to do with the Internet. Bitcoin depends on the internet to thrive and so whenever we don't have internet assess we can't assess our wallets or any stuff related to it. I wish and hope we don't ever get to that point where this doom painted won't become a global reality.

Imagination could become reality if a major upheaval occurs that could cause serious damage throughout the world, such as the outbreak of the third world war. All activities related to the internet cannot be carried out if a nuclear war occurs, it will take a long time to repair any damage that occurs. I have never ruled out that this might happen and the story that happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki could happen again if the third world war breaks out.

The internet is a human creation - and so is bitcoin and all its advantages. Both could be useless for one reason or another - so of course you need to get that as one of the risks you need to consider. Optimism about good things needs to be increased - but that shouldn't make you ignore any risks that could happen unexpectedly.

Kelward - have you read my previous post; I hope you've done it. Bitcoin transactions can be done without the internet - so don't ever think it can't be done without the internet. The only thing I think is - how can miners run their business without internet, it is definitely a big blow to the industry.

To be honest, I never wanted something like this to happen, it would be the worst scenario that would happen if the internet went down permanently. All the convenience felt by humanity today cannot be separated from the role of the internet in their lives. The internet has now become a part of human life, all work carried out in various fields must be connected to the internet. Even though there is a possibility that this may happen at this time, the government will take various measures to keep the internet functioning, especially now that bureaucratic systems are starting to be adopted into digital systems.

Yes I've gone through the link that you shared, and it's very enlightening, thanks. Although this is the first time that I'll hear about this Machankura, the services that it provides is a great innovation that can impact not just African, but the whole continents of the world. If for any reason the internet shuts down and people can't have access to their bitcoin wallets, there should be services like Machankura, to work in the absence of the internet. This is the base of my thoughts that if something where to happen that'll make the internet that we're so dependent on to permanently or temporarily shut down, that what are the alternatives to continue using the services that it provides. These are just thoughts and nothing more, because I believe that the internet technology should have enough backups to reactivate itself in cases of shutdowns.

Some countries may decide to block their internet connections due to some reasons like to political crisis or other things like to control their citizens.

 Some countries like India, Iran, Ethiopia, Russia have all done so before.
source (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/feb/28/internet-shutdowns-record-number-countries-2022-report)

But it is highly unlikely that there will be a total shutdown of the internet in every country and every place at the same time. At this stage, The possibility and probability of it happening is close to zero.

We would have considered what you just inquired about, the global internet shutting down if everyone on the planet uses the same network provider. In this instance, though, it would be impossible for us to begin making such assumptions because each nation has its own network providers that offer internet connectivity to its citizens.

The only place where the internet would ever shut down would be a nation at war. Whereby internet service providers to those nations at war opt to quit the nation because of the conflict

Currently the whole world is very dependent on internet needs. Starting from education, work and the internet-based economy, it is impossible if the world's internet has problems or is permanently down. Even if it happens as OP said, there's no need to worry, there will definitely be many people trying to revive the internet because the entire banking world also uses the internet.

There is no need to worry too much about bitcoin if the internet goes down because our assets will remain safe, just like our data when the smartphone battery runs out, when the battery is charged and turned on again. , the data is never lost, and neither are bitcoin assets.

As you have said, the internet has become an essential need for the world and shutting it down globally must have been because of something so massive that the government can not prevent it. If such an event occurs, it won't be possible for any person or group of people to revive it. Although all the governments will co operate with each other to fix the problem so that the connection can be reestablished as soon as possible.

I find a good read on why the internet will be impossible to permanently shutdown as long as it is not the end of the world, it can be found here: https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/is-it-possible-to-turn-off-the-internet-worldwide

The article stated that:

the government can ban access or reroute the access in their jurisdiction but this kind of action does not shuts down the internet but rather the action is just diverting or preventing the access to a site.

Here is another explanation from another site:

source: https://surfshark.com/blog/what-if-internet-shut-down

It needs a lot of resources and effort to crash a single site, but internet as stated does not originate from a single point.  As the destruction of internet site is being executed by people who wanted to shut down the internet permanently, the destroyed site are getting repaired thus, making the destruction of the internet effort in vain.

An impossible task can never be accomplished. There is no way the internet could be shut down suddenly, because it is used by people all around the world, not just states or countries. Almost everything now has been transformed into technology, in my question. How do we think the world will fare if such events occur? All banking is reliant on the global network, and some schools are now using it as well. Let's just leave it at jokes; if not, I'm not sure they'll be able to do it.
And for the forum you mentioned, he just simply stated that their other mantainence in that single day which is why the forum was down for some hours.

Have you ever had someone transact Bitcoin using short messages?  Yes, to transact Bitcoin, we don't only depend on the internet, another important thing is that the internet will never die, technology continues to develop and there are so many important people who continue to be involved in developing wireless internet networks throughout the world, it's all done to prevent  internet apocalypse.

I know they say 'anything is possible' - I believe it actually has boundaries tho.. cus how could you think of such an impossibility....wake up bro!!! We're In the 21^st fuckin' century.
Renaissance has had a good role and it's played it perfectly over time... We can't imagine how well the earth would have been developed assuming aliens were in control - so they shouldn't be any reason to fall back in time... Never!

Sandra 🧑‍🦰

Well, I don't think that would happen unless all the satellites in space and those at various positions in this earth stop transmitting simultaneously and then all servers stop working.
The disaster that will follow is nothing short of an apocalypse like as seen in many zombie movies of sort.

First of all this will never happen. If this will happen so the time will be the 3rd world war. If third world war will start so this will destroy everything and this will not good for the world. We will see a big loss if this will happen in future. Like you can see in the second world war. How it destroyed the world. And now the technology have much improvements.

Now it is the Digital Era and everything is sophisticated and can be done easily via digital using a great internet connection. Some wishful thinking about the death of the internet is just a fictional idea that will not happen. Governments around the world will not let the internet die, this is a technology that will live on. The internet has become a primary need that no one can refuse.

I think the government would never allow the internet to shot own not even in a minute would they allow it to go off. Internet is now part of the functional system of activities all round the world where by transmission does take place. The advanced or first world nation has gone far beyond what the human can comprehend in terms of using the internet for connectivity and other engagements. Therefore, it is near impossible to say that the internet would no longer function.

I can understand the fact that when it comes to war that there would be some interruption but not elimination. The internet would be there for connectivity in communication and also to transmit events. Let me just put this straight; The internet is the basis for which communication is  made possible.

It's comforting to note that the permanent shutdown of the internet might not be possible because it's transmissions are not from a single source. Each country has their own network provider, therefore if one shuts down, it'll not affect the connections of other countries. Another innovation is that if a total shutdown of the internet were to happen, i don't think that it'll last long before it is repaired and restored back, because we have intelligent minds that'll go to work and make sure of the Restoration.

Although i don't like to use the word impossible in today's world, because technological advancements have proven things that were only imagined before now to be a reality today. So it's not fiction to imagine the possibilities of the internet to shutdown worldwide, factors like world war or phenomenon beyond our comprehension can occur to make these possible. But my firm believe is that so far stored information are not affected, repairs are possible and and the world will move on after any setback.

I think there will be momentary peace on earth, there will be no fake news , no threats and internet fraudulent activities, their will be no rooms for collecting people's information without their awareness through the internet, the rate at which we see nude through social media will stop for a moment. Even the world power nations will be humbled. Op thank you for your imagination, even my reply are also from imagination.  May we not see what will take us back. The negative part is that there will be serious confusion in every country, marriages and relationship will be broken, remote jobs will be lost, companies will fold up and many more negative things.

Every invention came from imagination, I should believe that you are not trying an invention that will shut the
 internet.

30years ago world was living without internet and there are still countries with only rudimentary networks, so I don't think that humanity wouldn't be able to live without it. I think human beings are smart enough to cope with that without disappearing even it would be difficult at the beginning.

Currently there is no possible reason for the internet to be permanently shut down, there are so many backup power and backup infrastructure to prevent the Internet to be completely shutdown. The only reason that I could think is a global catastrophe that happened because of natural disaster, something that no one could avoid or anticipate, but at that moment no one would think of internet, people would just panic and find anyway to just survive.

In the above fictional or imaginary content (OP), the author was imagining the internet to be only one and from that just one source, everything is connected. Maybe the headquarters of the internet is in Washington and Joe Biden is with the key. So, one day he might get sad or depressed and then he will shut the internet from his office in the White House.

---

Op, the World Wide Web is the biggest decentralized system in the world, so your imagination cannot come to pass. It will just die in imagination. Unless you are one of the people in the world, especially some Africans who believe the world will one day cease to exist.

even if there is a war, it is impossible for us now to feel an internet blackout, satellite internet will be a trend in the future, we will no longer see underwater or underground internet networks, everything will be available in outer space so even in the event of a big war, everyone can still access the internet and also carry out cryptocurrency transactions but if the galaxy disappears, that's a different story lol, basically the chance of the internet going out is very small, as small as an ant hole lol.

My "imagination"? Are you a ChatGPT bot, or does your reading comprehension suck? ::)

Gosh, I hate it when people with signature campaigns make useless posts! >:(

Cryptosize, you misconstrued my post above. The post was formed in two paragraphs, the first paragraph supported your idea of the decentralized internet, which is the reason I quoted your post while the second paragraph answered OP. I do not blame you because you thought I referred to you in both paragraphs. The mistake was from me by not mentioning Op in the second paragraph or maybe not using the horizontal rule.  I have corrected the quoting mistake, you may decide to read again and remain cool.

People wearing the Green signature and avatar are generally not spammers or bots. Peace!

Internet shutdown will affect everything that has to do with technology space, circulates round the glob. Internet permanently shutdown will not happen but if it does through imagination, that's where we get prepared to face the worst-case of the present world. Alot of things will not longer function such as schools, cryptocurrency and block chain, everything technology will return to square zero. Consequently, there will be streams of other means that would be generated because every incidents have their solutions, problems and challenges that one will face is the calculates time these answerable solutions will be triggered.

It is certain that we will lose access that requires the internet, that is one thing that will happen if the internet goes down completely. If we talk about internet needs at this time, it is unlikely that the internet will completely shut down, unless there is war or disaster. There is no reason that can cut off the internet in the midst of human life which all uses technology and that is one of the big needs today in any country. The banking system also requires internet for the network they use so when an internet outage occurs their system cannot function.

A small example that often occurs in countries where power outages often occur, just look at when the lights go off, the banking network will automatically turn off and cannot be used. Money at the ATM cannot be withdrawn and things will become more complicated. The question is, is it possible that the internet will completely shut down and many systems managed by the government need the internet at this time.

In essence, everything needs the internet and there will be no death on the internet. Even though there are wars like today in Israel and Palestine, the internet still exists there so that those of us in different countries can know news about the war because the internet is still functioning.
The internet is a link throughout the world so that all information can be found very easily and quickly. |
The internet is also in the palm of your hand and can be accessed by anyone. The digital era like today provides many advantages in all aspects.

Firstly, now almost all human activity (finance, economics, trade, entertainment, media, education, etc.) is tied to the Internet and therefore the functioning of the global Internet network is carefully maintained and shutdowns will not be allowed. If the Internet still fails, more likely due to a man-made reason than a natural one, then this is the last thing you should worry about at that moment. At that moment, you will think more about how to save your life, what to find to eat and how to fight off enemies, and not about what will happen to the bitcoin inside wallets or money in bank accounts. In the post-apocalyptic world, priorities will change slightly from what we are used to. My point is that a global internet shutdown is only possible in a scenario like this.

I’m more interested in what will happen if the Internet becomes fragmented into several continents or countries. How to use bitcoin in this case, will there be alternative bitcoin networks, how to make transactions from one fragment of the bitcoin network to another. The scenario with the emergence of a fragmented Internet is more likely than a total shutdown of the Internet, and I think that it is worth reflecting on this topic because of the likely relevance of it.

Bitcoin requires a unified internet. It's not a fragmented currency, therefore it cannot work in intranets (fragmented networks).

If the internet were to be shot down, I think we would not have known about the Isreal Palestinian war. Maybe we could just imagine peace to be coexisting amongst both nations and that would have not helped at all. As you can see it for yourself, the internet made it possible to easily access and asses what is currently happening in the world more especially the war turn countries. The government will also use it to announce to the world what is happening just as the Israelites and Palestinians are doing now.
I must say that the internet has constituted a good back up base for information dissemination and to also keep the world connected and with the internet, there is closeness amongst nations because it foster good communication and international relations.

yes the internet is the basis of all communication that occurs and it will never die even if there is a war or crisis. The internet will continue to live to support communication and other needs for humanity. The government will also lose if the internet goes down even for a second, there will always be a backup to keep the internet alive and this will continue.

It will need  a global disaster where every access point, server connections are damaged.  So in reality, internet, as long as the damage is not worldwide, will continue to operate and will not be completely shut down.  The government will do it can to re-stablish the internet connection and the company behind the internet service will repair the damage ASAP because they don't want their business to get out of service.



True that, so the banking company finds ways to address the problem when there is power interruption and that is using an alternative source of power to keep their system up.  Just like this case, internet providers will also find ways to fix any interruption asap to maintain their integrity and trust of people on their service.

I don't think the Internet can be shut down even for a few minutes because without it, you won't be able to access anything that will give you income online because that is where many people get their income, for example if the Internet is disconnected, Bitcoin and other crypto will be unavailable and you won't be able to trade or invest because you will have no idea about it, and I'm not sure they will make any mistakes that will cause the Internet to stop functioning, because we can't do anything like communication or sharing information and scheduling operations to each other, exactly if network shutdown nothing will happen to the bitcoin but you won't get access with it if there is no network and he can't be possibly that network will shutdown even in the next 50years because if a country lost network he leads to many confusion and the financial system will not proceed straight forward, I don't think anyone should be thinking about network being disconnected even one day since it is impossible.

That's an important point because there are many things that require internet access nowadays and if the internet goes down for one day, many things will change which will have an impact on businesses or government systems that use the network. Natural disasters will be another reason for a total blackout for the internet because it is unintentional and the company will continue to try to fix it as quickly as possible so as not to affect their business.

Financial office services and other government offices really need the internet dan there must be an alternative to this problem because it is impossible for dependence on electricity and the internet to just turn off. The need for the internet is very important and even when war occurs they need a tool to communicate. These are several reasons that the internet will never go out in the world and even if it does, only natural disasters can make the internet stop temporarily before it can be repaired.