What if Governments Shutdown the Internet?

[Taki]

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. 

[carlisle1]

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.

[dailycoins]

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.

[White Christmas]

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$.

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.

[foxbat]

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"

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.

[ladydark]

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.

[Novun]

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.

[Daniel91]

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.

[gabbie2010]

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.

[erickkyut]

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.

[xFiber]

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$.

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.

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.

[Azkabal]

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.

[coolcoinz]

What if Governments Shutdown the Internet?  

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.

[7jaka7]

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.

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.

[ecnalubma]

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.

[iamTom123]

What if Governments Shutdown the Internet?  

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.

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.

[skorupi17]

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"

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.

[jc89]

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"

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.

[lighpulsar07]

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.

[Vasilije69]

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