what happens to Bitcoin if internet goes down?

[Blawpaw]

In the events of the internet crashing we would need to create a free web net. People would connect by wireless to one another...

[Jeremycoin]

I think there is no way you can trade Bitcoin if the internet goes down, unless if someone invented a new technology that has the same function with internet.

[mtnsaa]

Bitcoin would be the smallest problem in that event. Internet is not only pornhub, many financial companies and instruments depend on it, civilization as we know it will change. It's like asking how we will log in to Facebook? We won't.

[cryptolives]

If Internet goes down I think bitcoin will be useless and not worth anymore, so you do not need to exchange it

if internet goes down i still think it be worth something it would spread panic as people feel helpless as they can't access it.

[richardsNY]

Impossible. If for example something like this happens when Bitcoin is a very important currency, then people will find other valuable items to use as currency alongside the fiat that they use every day.

[keepdoing]

given the cayos happening in the world i wouldn't be surprised of nuclear war and in this case i would expect internet disruption question is how do we trade bitcoin during this time if we can't access internet.

home internet and mobile internet goes down

You don't.  Seriously this is the stupidest question I have ever heard.  In the event of a nuclear war - your primary concern is bitcoin trading.  It's actually a pretty good argument to have a nuclear war - sort of weed out the genetic evolutionary reversal that seems to be occurring in a vast proportion of the human species.

What is more likely in the near term is large, rolling regional, national blackouts/power outages etc due to hackers.  If you are in a situation like that, you will want to have some sort of physical monetary or bartering system.  But in those situations, the power will eventually come back on, and while there might have been chaotic disruption/looting/ etc.... the Internet will again power up, and your bitcoins will still be out there. 

But if you are in Pakistan/India or N Korea/S Korea or Israel/Iran - the sites of the most probable, initial "limited" nuclear tradeoff zones - then yes, your bitcoin trading will most likely be disrupted for a bit.  But it will be helpful after you have migrated cross border into a new land, one where the power still works, bitcoin was never impacted etc.  And you'll have your bitcoin capitol to rebuild your life.

Of course, once the final war with the AI / ZombieBorgs starts, THEN you'll want the gold/silver and bitcoin/internet will be under enemy control, and then ultimately gone.   

[cryptolives]

given the cayos happening in the world i wouldn't be surprised of nuclear war and in this case i would expect internet disruption question is how do we trade bitcoin during this time if we can't access internet.

home internet and mobile internet goes down

You don't.  Seriously this is the stupidest question I have ever heard.  In the event of a nuclear war - your primary concern is bitcoin trading.  It's actually a pretty good argument to have a nuclear war - sort of weed out the genetic evolutionary reversal that seems to be occurring in a vast proportion of the human species.

What is more likely in the near term is large, rolling regional, national blackouts/power outages etc due to hackers.  If you are in a situation like that, you will want to have some sort of physical monetary or bartering system.  But in those situations, the power will eventually come back on, and while there might have been chaotic disruption/looting/ etc.... the Internet will again power up, and your bitcoins will still be out there. 

But if you are in Pakistan/India or N Korea/S Korea or Israel/Iran - the sites of the most probable, initial "limited" nuclear tradeoff zones - then yes, your bitcoin trading will most likely be disrupted for a bit.  But it will be helpful after you have migrated cross border into a new land, one where the power still works, bitcoin was never impacted etc.  And you'll have your bitcoin capitol to rebuild your life.

Of course, once the final war with the AI / ZombieBorgs starts, THEN you'll want the gold/silver and bitcoin/internet will be under enemy control, and then ultimately gone.   

dude i do not mean bitcoin trading to make profit i mean to trade bitcoin to pay for things. how can we use bitcoin to pay for things if internet is down.

[DarkStar_]

given the cayos happening in the world i wouldn't be surprised of nuclear war and in this case i would expect internet disruption question is how do we trade bitcoin during this time if we can't access internet.

home internet and mobile internet goes down

do not mean trade bitcoin to buy/sell i mean using it as a way of payment say you wanted to send money to someone abroad for family far away buy things with it

A nuclear war is happening, and all you care about is using bitcoin to buy stuff?
Get your priorities in order man, no point of bitcoin if you die.


/troll

[cryptolives]

given the cayos happening in the world i wouldn't be surprised of nuclear war and in this case i would expect internet disruption question is how do we trade bitcoin during this time if we can't access internet.

home internet and mobile internet goes down

do not mean trade bitcoin to buy/sell i mean using it as a way of payment say you wanted to send money to someone abroad for family far away buy things with it

A nuclear war is happening, and all you care about is using bitcoin to buy stuff?
Get your priorities in order man, no point of bitcoin if you die.


/troll

lol u say as if i want to go use bitcoin to by a ps4 or tv or something come on dude lol

why do you think i said nuclear war stuff that are useful during that , as money is to be devalued alot its precious metals or things of value you can buy things with.

no guarantee a nuclear bomb gonna hit me so if i do survive i'd like to buy shit still when cash is worthless or massively devalued

[cryptolives]

i'd rather be holding large amount of btc than precious metals or cash just saying

 its a thought i had what would happen with bitcoin if no internet it doesn't necessarily need to be nuclear  war or something

[keepdoing]

given the cayos happening in the world i wouldn't be surprised of nuclear war and in this case i would expect internet disruption question is how do we trade bitcoin during this time if we can't access internet.

home internet and mobile internet goes down

You don't.  Seriously this is the stupidest question I have ever heard.  In the event of a nuclear war - your primary concern is bitcoin trading.  It's actually a pretty good argument to have a nuclear war - sort of weed out the genetic evolutionary reversal that seems to be occurring in a vast proportion of the human species.

What is more likely in the near term is large, rolling regional, national blackouts/power outages etc due to hackers.  If you are in a situation like that, you will want to have some sort of physical monetary or bartering system.  But in those situations, the power will eventually come back on, and while there might have been chaotic disruption/looting/ etc.... the Internet will again power up, and your bitcoins will still be out there. 

But if you are in Pakistan/India or N Korea/S Korea or Israel/Iran - the sites of the most probable, initial "limited" nuclear tradeoff zones - then yes, your bitcoin trading will most likely be disrupted for a bit.  But it will be helpful after you have migrated cross border into a new land, one where the power still works, bitcoin was never impacted etc.  And you'll have your bitcoin capitol to rebuild your life.

Of course, once the final war with the AI / ZombieBorgs starts, THEN you'll want the gold/silver and bitcoin/internet will be under enemy control, and then ultimately gone.   

dude i do not mean bitcoin trading to make profit i mean to trade bitcoin to pay for things. how can we use bitcoin to pay for things if internet is down.

OK.... again, I'm really feeling the whole polluted genetics / reverse evolutionary theory is applicable here.

But if you insist on chasing this theory - then you would first have to create a physical coin network, and it would probably have to scale at amazing coin value amounts and be integrated into the population at a ridiculous volume.  And since that sort of defeats the entire bitcoin / digital money thing - ain't happening.  

[jak3]

i do not think internet will be broken down even it is the greatest thing i have experianced till now and this thing needed by the whole world no matter what is the situation are but internet has always helped .lets take it in another sense internet or www(world wide web/network) is made wan so. it it shutdowns then also we will have the man and lan conections.atleast we can keep connected to our country and after that we can hardly conbect to our nebour country we are humans we invent things

[keepdoing]

lol u say as if i want to go use bitcoin to by a ps4 or tv or something come on dude lol

why do you think i said nuclear war stuff that are useful during that , as money is to be devalued alot its precious metals or things of value you can buy things with.

no guarantee a nuclear bomb gonna hit me so if i do survive i'd like to buy shit still when cash is worthless or massively devalued

...... like a ps4 or tv or something.

* you are of course correct.  In the event of nuclear war / internet, you would simply use the Bitcoin ATMs that have power backups.  Can't believe I missed that.  So sorry.

[cellard]

given the cayos happening in the world i wouldn't be surprised of nuclear war and in this case i would expect internet disruption question is how do we trade bitcoin during this time if we can't access internet.

home internet and mobile internet goes down

Bitcoin network completely breaks down. no hash power, no node. no confirmation, then we have to go cash, like dollar, euro.

Well the thing is that cash is going to disappear in the next 10 or 20 years so I wouldn't count of cash as a means of exchanging value in the future because society is going more and more digital and physical payments will be irrelevant, the people being born today will not know cash in the future.

[TKeenan]

If the Internet goes down, the Amish community will be the only ones going about life as usual   perhaps trading bitcoins using paper wallets?

This would be possible if the miners continue running and part of the population still has an Internet connection. Without internet you need another network. Without a network you can do mining on paper and keep a printed copy of the blockchain, but transaction time would be very slow 

Actually, the transaction time would still be 10 minutes.  Difficulty will be adjusted down.  It's always 10 minutes by definition.

[jt byte]

Well this is a good thread some one need to develop a technology when the internet goes down that you can still trade bitcoins.
Oh well I am just hoping that doesn't happen I can live without internet.

[Klestin]

Bitcoin network completely breaks down. no hash power, no node. no confirmation, then we have to go cash, like dollar, euro.

In a post-nuclear-war world, the dollars and euros will be worth almost as much as the paper they're made of.

[cryptolives]

lol u say as if i want to go use bitcoin to by a ps4 or tv or something come on dude lol

why do you think i said nuclear war stuff that are useful during that , as money is to be devalued alot its precious metals or things of value you can buy things with.

no guarantee a nuclear bomb gonna hit me so if i do survive i'd like to buy shit still when cash is worthless or massively devalued

...... like a ps4 or tv or something.

* you are of course correct.  In the event of nuclear war / internet, you would simply use the Bitcoin ATMs that have power backups.  Can't believe I missed that.  So sorry.

shit meaning survival stuff as if internet is down you can't do anything with btc and using atms still spits out cash which would devalued/useless its not great.

[ajareselde]

Well this is a good thread some one need to develop a technology when the internet goes down that you can still trade bitcoins.
Oh well I am just hoping that doesn't happen I can live without internet.

Internet is a vast network with multiple redundancy points, and while it may get unavailable at some locations at crisis points as op describes, it's
definitely safe to say that rest of the world won't be affected in any major way. imho this thread is either trolling or created by someone who
lacks basic knowledge in technology in general.

cheers

[Klestin]

Actually, the transaction time would still be 10 minutes.  Difficulty will be adjusted down.  It's always 10 minutes by definition.

Not if it went down suddenly. The difficulty would essentially never adjust as we'd never finish enough blocks to reach the next adjustment.