What if Governments Shutdown the Internet?

[Ucy]

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"

[Netnox]

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.

[Crypto$Leigh]

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

[audaciousbeing]

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.

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.

[Mike Mayor]

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 !!

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

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

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.

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.

Please stop talking nonesense.

[Dude.Lebowski]

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"

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.

[OROBTC]

...

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.

[Dude.Lebowski]

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"

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.

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

[Ethan_Locke]

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$.

[BossMacko]

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.

[equator]

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$.

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.

[pereira4]

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.

[harizen]

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"

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.

[Slow death]

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"

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

[Rahar02]

...

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.

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.

[ImHash]

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.

[iqlimasyadiqa]

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"

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.

[MetalGear]

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"

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.

[micher143]

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"

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.

[dissident]

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