What will happen to the Bitcoin network if Russia blocks access to the internet?

[teosanru]

Russia is considering shutting down the internet connection to the rest of the globe. What will occur? Is the hash rate decreasing? What will happen if the connection is re-established in a few years?

As per the latest data Russia has almost 12% contribution towards the hash rate of the total globe. Only if you include Kazakhasthan it reaches upto about 30%. So if Russia blocks the internet then I don't see a very drastic effect of it on the Hash rate, just a 12-15% drop. If you want to take reference I would rather recommend see China, it had almost 50% contribution in the mining hash rate before China completely banned bitcoin mining from its territory even after that since then I have seen hash rate rapidly increasing instead of falling down. This might have owed to the price increase since then. Therefore I am sure Russia block access won't be a major issue for the world.

[Ems.]

If russian blocks,all access to the internet,it will stop all connections.More business,will stop it it will not run ,whatever they wanted .So everyone must be alert and think what the should do,for our situations all ,that war in Russian.

[SirLancelot]

Russia is considering shutting down the internet connection to the rest of the globe. What will occur? Is the hash rate decreasing? What will happen if the connection is re-established in a few years?

Well there could have an effect but not won't hurt the entire bitcoin, a small percentage will be noticeable and it is easy to recognize when miners will not continue to mine. But this seems very impossible to happen, stop bothering yourself about this because it will never happen that Russia will shutdown internet, most people need internet from work and to their family --it is like it belongs now to the most important necessity is the internet.
However, I have read the news before that even radio waves bitcoin can make transactions and I don't think everyone wants to explore it.

They do plan on shutting it down to other nations, so connection to the world. Which means internet will keep on existing, but we will just not have Russians connecting to the rest of the world. Obviously they can easily use VPN and still connect, internet can't be limited and governments fail to see that in all around the world, you can even go online as a north Korean person. However, this will not impact crypto at all.

If you are in mining world, you are smart enough to know that you can keep on mining using a VPN connection, even would go satellite connection to some other ISP if you have to. Russians will figure it out and won't be a problem at all.

[famososMuertos]

Well; Let's say that in the first instance those who live on the border, where literally the cities are separated by a few meters, there is cellular connections available, of both countries, in this case one of them would be blocked.
I have been in border places where the Internet connection is better in Mbps that the neighboring and literal country sell these connections with the use of antennas that you can get on ebay and then an antenna point to point  of the other side of the border works.

The point is, I think way if they blocks access to the Internet it, it would not be a 100% blockade, somehow there would be a gap it would open an alternative communication technology, anyone who wanted to update a node could access it in some way. In fact, there could be a Lan network in a part of Russia that will become a WAN because of the fact of having someone nearby on the border.

[stompix]

Well; Let's say that in the first instance those who live on the border, where literally the cities are separated by a few meters, there is cellular connections available, of both countries, in this case one of them would be blocked.I have been in border places where the Internet connection is better in Mbps that the neighboring and literal country sell these connections with the use of antennas that you can get on ebay and then an antenna point to point  of the other side of the border works.

Then you've never been to a Russian border. 
This shutdown will probably most likely include Belarus, this is how Belarus borders to western countries looks like:



with the Baltic states, the border is mainly a lake and a river and there are almost no Russian villages there the rest will be with Ukraine, lol, and Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China mainly, champions of freedom and countries known to let poeple host free internet connections.
All the borders have been exactly cut like this strategically, remember it's the Russia we're talking about, this is not a border between Belgium and Netherlands.



Also, if you want to censor those things it's pretty easy, wi-fi jammers are far more effective than the wifi themselves and it will take simple things to block them, not even counting what Russia has on its border for every kind of radio signal already.

How many North Koreans you have seen around this forum?

If you were a North Korean who had gained access to the rest of the internet, the last thing you are going to do is advertise that fact and draw attention to yourself.

Exactly my point. How many will risk it knowing the consequence? 
Internet is somewhat "blocked" in China but that doesn't stop Chinese poeple from posting around, right?
It's not that much about how effective you're blocking poeple but rather the fear poeple have from what might happen next and knowing how all windows in Rusia are deathtraps, teleporting you from your ground-floor apartment to your neighbor on the 6th and throwing you out, I wouldn't bet on poeple trying to go around it.

[franky1]

Exactly my point. How many will risk it knowing the consequence? 
Internet is somewhat "blocked" in China but that doesn't stop Chinese poeple from posting around, right?

firewalled is not the same as blocked.
if all ISP's just turned off citizen access(am actual block/shutdown). its a complete different situation to the chinese firewall situation

i doubt putin would stretch that far to P!55 off all his citizens, but then again other countries have(kazahkstan fuel riots). so i wouldnt put it past him

That would mean a million more people on welfare, at least!

All the freelancers like journalists, coders, translators, all youtubers, streamers, content creators of various types, moderators, game designers, small online stores, everything would go to shit. That would mean serious drop in taxes and gigantic unemployment and migration. Sure, he can do it, but that's going to be the last nail in his coffin.
[/quote]

well. its all hypothetical. kazahkstan done an actual internet shutdown(not a firewall) for a while, in some small locations.
many variables are at play

most freelancers probably already are on welfare..  unless wellpaid to have some savings to live on thus not need welfare.. after all the welfare system does not kick in and pay out the very first day you sign up.. so unless the internet shutdown is considered to be a lasting event, most wont bother signing up for welfare

by the time people try to claim welfare the internet might be switched back on. so its probably not going to cause much change.

putin might localise it to certain cities or the whole country. he might do it for a day or a week. who knows. lots of variable possibilities. which is why this topic is not a single answer fits all situations.

lots of TV/news stations in russia got cut off, many journalists lost their jobs. but thats because the new/media cut off was deemed more of a long term decision and not a temporary event..
so yes it can affect alot of people. but also might be a temporary thing. who knows what that nut case does next.

but one thing is for sure. the amount of hashpower in russia is not significant enough to cause any significant blocktime confirmation delay for the rest of the network. and wont cause any fork(because no internet means no bloc broadcast/receive within russia).

but yes russia wont switch off the internet for any silly reason. but just know that it can, as can any country. again highlighting kazahkstan as one such example.

[Ozero]

Take a look on North Korea and their internet. It is limited, it is controlled (lol).

Their internet is highly censored. The pages you can visit are limited, let alone the services that accept Bitcoin. There is no reason for a totalitarian government, of that level, to get involved; they already control everything.

Even if I had high chances of getting away with it, I wouldn't even try, because there's a small chance I won't have a head afterwards.

If Russia does another stupid act and blocks its citizens from accessing the Internet, it will be basically a problem only for Russian citizens. The world can do without part of the Russian cryptocurrency market, and for the Russians who worked in this market, it will be just a disaster. And in general, in my opinion, few people can imagine their life without the Internet. Almost all the knowledge of mankind is already concentrated there, this is a way to instantly spread any news around the world.
That is why the Putin regime decides to take such a step, he wants the citizens of Russia not to know the truth about the causes, course and consequences of the attack on Ukraine. This is, of course, stupid. After all, there are still mobile phones, but insanity in Russia is so strong that they can be reached there.

[Erumo]

It is limited, it is controlled (lol). Yet they somehow manage to be involved in cryptocurrency. I think Russia will get same experience.

How many North Koreans you have seen around this forum?

The fact that we does not see them does not mean that they are not here. If in North Korean internet is monitored, censored, blocked, prohibited, then how they hell they manage their hackers manage to steal crypto from users and exchanges? Do they do it just for fun or to show their power? If they manage to be in crypto, then cunning Russians will definitely get around blocks.

[Maestro75]

If Russia disconnects itself from the internet then I think they'll face a lot of negative consequences (not only with bitcoin but with engineering and other advancements too).

I wish President Putin is here or has some representatives from his cabinet who can read and tell him all this for him to reconsider his decision. His action will hurt more people than he thinks he will gain. It is the same way the US and their allies should read too. The boycott of the internet in Russia can come from either Putin or the EU as sanction. Time will tell. This war is not only affecting Ukraine, it is also hitting the Russians harshly too. Innocent souls are being massacred in both countries.

[stompix]

The fact that we does not see them does not mean that they are not here. If in North Korean internet is monitored, censored, blocked, prohibited, then how they hell they manage their hackers manage to steal crypto from users and exchanges? Do they do it just for fun or to show their power? If they manage to be in crypto, then cunning Russians will definitely get around blocks.

Because they work for the government, they are not hackers living in their mom's basement and hacking western accounts, it's more like au authorized army operation. And no "cunning" Russians will be able to bypass a complete blockade, no matter how "cunning" you are you can't do something that is physically impossible.
Show me the hacker that can connect to my broken laptop that has no battery and no internet connection. 

Exactly my point. How many will risk it knowing the consequence? 
Internet is somewhat "blocked" in China but that doesn't stop Chinese poeple from posting around, right?

firewalled is not the same as blocked.
if all ISP's just turned off citizen access(am actual block/shutdown). its a complete different situation to the chinese firewall situation

Again, exactly what I was saying
The Chinese government has chosen to do this kind of restriction and poeple there are not afraid to bypass it because the consequences are not that bad.
If the government would want to issue a total blockade they will either go for the same intranet plan or change the sentences for using VPN to a life without parole in a work camp and let's see how many wills till browse western media.
If the government wants to allow poeple a bit of freedom they will do so, if not you can see the level of tolerance in the number of prison years the law comes with.

[famososMuertos]

Well; Let's say that in the first instance those who live on the border, where literally the cities are separated by a few meters, there is cellular connections available, of both countries, in this case one of them would be blocked.I have been in border places where the Internet connection is better in Mbps that the neighboring and literal country sell these connections with the use of antennas that you can get on ebay and then an antenna point to point  of the other side of the border works.

Then you've never been to a Russian border. 
This shutdown will probably most likely include Belarus, this is how Belarus borders to western countries looks like:

with the Baltic states, the border is mainly a lake and a river and there are almost no Russian villages there the rest will be with Ukraine, lol, and Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China mainly, champions of freedom and countries known to let poeple host free internet connections.
All the borders have been exactly cut like this strategically, remember it's the Russia we're talking about, this is not a border between Belgium and Netherlands.
.../Q/...::

+1
The point is that, as I said, the block would never be 100% effective, although it may seem so in this case, there will always be something that can be done or tried. I suppose that this blocking would come with a law similar to that of false disclosure (news) that brings prison sentences, so will be added to avoid these initiatives.

In any case, without a doubt, there is no comparison, geopolitically speaking, but in my region there are such complex borders in the types of illegal interconnection that are used, that they go hand in hand with the complexity of the border.

[henmark]

If Russia disconnects itself from the internet then I think they'll face a lot of negative consequences (not only with bitcoin but with engineering and other advancements too).

I wish President Putin is here or has some representatives from his cabinet who can read and tell him all this for him to reconsider his decision. His action will hurt more people than he thinks he will gain. It is the same way the US and their allies should read too. The boycott of the internet in Russia can come from either Putin or the EU as sanction. Time will tell. This war is not only affecting Ukraine, it is also hitting the Russians harshly too. Innocent souls are being massacred in both countries.

Dude decided to invade another nation, a nation in Europe, in year 2022. Do you really think he looks like a person that listens to reason? I mean it is obvious that he is a delusional old demanded dictator that is trying to do the most evil things he can before he dies so that he can get away with it.

What do you think could happen to him? Like what happened to Ghaddafi? Obviously not, he is Putin, he has all the information inside Russia (and most outside) in his ear, and he knows that nothing will ever happen to him, even he loses, or even he wins and kills all Ukrainians. He is old enough to know that he will die, and not too many years later, so he is doing all of this without caring about consequences. It will be Russians that will suffer because of him.

[Maidak]

Russia is considering shutting down the internet connection to the rest of the globe. What will occur? Is the hash rate decreasing? What will happen if the connection is re-established in a few years?

I can't see anything here except another Bitcoin fork. Russia has 15 to 20% miners at most, if they separate with their running nodes, it will impact their own economy, because the world will never follow the minority chain, the chain that the majority of people will use will remain stable.

Another thing I heard is that Russia is looking for an alternative to the US dollar, they are hurting themselves by these activities, seems, they are not at all worried about their economy or the future of their people.

[Hypnosis00]

Russia is considering shutting down the internet connection to the rest of the globe. What will occur? Is the hash rate decreasing? What will happen if the connection is re-established in a few years?

It certainly has an impact on the hash rate but never I this will be huge. Although we know that Russia has a huge contribution to the crypto market but not all of them are traders, if ever they will block internet connection, they hold their coins. I'm not to think this gonna be forever, transaction will surely resume once the conflict is over, of course. It all just be fine, the people from Russia will also remain calm. We never put this into consideration that we need to sell, no.

[Ozero]

If Russia disconnects itself from the internet then I think they'll face a lot of negative consequences (not only with bitcoin but with engineering and other advancements too).

I wish President Putin is here or has some representatives from his cabinet who can read and tell him all this for him to reconsider his decision. His action will hurt more people than he thinks he will gain. It is the same way the US and their allies should read too. The boycott of the internet in Russia can come from either Putin or the EU as sanction. Time will tell. This war is not only affecting Ukraine, it is also hitting the Russians harshly too. Innocent souls are being massacred in both countries.

In Russia, the people make their own choice. First, by supporting Putin, then by his passivity, and partly by his support for his attack on Ukraine. Did Putin's regime think that the international community would once again not respond properly to the fact that he decided to seize one of the largest states in Europe by force? It was foolish to think so, because here he had already touched the security of each of the European countries. Therefore, Russia received the toughest sanctions that could destroy Russia itself.
Ukraine also helps in this regard, having put up such stubborn resistance to aggression that Moscow has already realized that the "second army of the world" can lose this war. Therefore, first of all, the Putin regime decided to hide from its people the causes, course and heavy losses in this war. To this end, they have already turned off Facebook and Twitter on their territory, and now they are turning off Instagram. But this is not enough, because the information spreads anyway. Therefore, they are already talking about the complete shutdown of the Internet. We believed that no state would dare to do this. But in order to maintain his power, Putin goes for this. If the Internet is turned off in Russia, taking into account the current sanctions, they will soon be walking around again in sweatshirts and bast shoes, and this will be the second North Korea in terms of its closeness to the world. While there is time, let the Russian people make the right decisions

[Doan9269]

Russia is considering shutting down the internet connection to the rest of the globe. What will occur? Is the hash rate decreasing? What will happen if the connection is re-established in a few years?

Possibly Putin might not have thought of the implications on the other side because as at now, situation of their economy system is bad not to talk of how their currency was devalued, most bitcoin investors leaving the country to seek for a new start, although the effect does not have anything to do with the hash rate as i believe most of the miners too would have seek to relocate to a safety location.

[ItsCrafty]

Russia is considering shutting down the internet connection to the rest of the globe. What will occur? Is the hash rate decreasing? What will happen if the connection is re-established in a few years?

Not sure about other cryptos, but least in the case of Bitcoin.. You need neither grid power nor internet. Battery backups, solar power, hydro power, distributed nodes across the whole world that can broadcast across satellite  or even radio waves.  There are alternate ways to access it.

[zasad@]

If Russia disconnects itself from the internet then I think they'll face a lot of negative consequences (not only with bitcoin but with engineering and other advancements too).

I wish President Putin is here or has some representatives from his cabinet who can read and tell him all this for him to reconsider his decision. His action will hurt more people than he thinks he will gain. It is the same way the US and their allies should read too. The boycott of the internet in Russia can come from either Putin or the EU as sanction. Time will tell. This war is not only affecting Ukraine, it is also hitting the Russians harshly too. Innocent souls are being massacred in both countries.

In Russia, the people make their own choice. First, by supporting Putin, then by his passivity, and partly by his support for his attack on Ukraine. Did Putin's regime think that the international community would once again not respond properly to the fact that he decided to seize one of the largest states in Europe by force? It was foolish to think so, because here he had already touched the security of each of the European countries. Therefore, Russia received the toughest sanctions that could destroy Russia itself.
Ukraine also helps in this regard, having put up such stubborn resistance to aggression that Moscow has already realized that the "second army of the world" can lose this war. Therefore, first of all, the Putin regime decided to hide from its people the causes, course and heavy losses in this war. To this end, they have already turned off Facebook and Twitter on their territory, and now they are turning off Instagram. But this is not enough, because the information spreads anyway. Therefore, they are already talking about the complete shutdown of the Internet. We believed that no state would dare to do this. But in order to maintain his power, Putin goes for this. If the Internet is turned off in Russia, taking into account the current sanctions, they will soon be walking around again in sweatshirts and bast shoes, and this will be the second North Korea in terms of its closeness to the world. While there is time, let the Russian people make the right decisions

I'm already tired of reading about the Putin regime in Russia. Why is it that when the US attacks other countries, then all the countries of the world stick their tongues up their asses?
Read information about the latest conflicts where the United States participated:

"According to the agency, the United States supplied Ukraine this 2020 year with military products worth 510 million and almost 599 thousand US dollars. At the same time, in previous years, the amounts spent were significantly less - approximately 272.5 million in 2019, 250.8 million in 2018, 207.7 million in 2017 and almost 226.6 million in 2016. For all the time, the total cost of deliveries to Ukraine amounted to about $1.65 billion, since over the previous period - from 1950 to 2015 - the United States supplied weapons and equipment to this country in the amount of more than $179.2 million."
https://ria.ru/20201208/vooruzheniya-1588152746.html

Data in American newspapers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/03/04/us-weapons-ukraine/
"The United States has committed about $3 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014."

Do you not understand that this event has been prepared for more than 6 years?
__
Bitcoin will also work without the Russian Internet.

[cheezcarls]

I don’t think Russia can be cut off from the internet entirely, so they can still do Bitcoin and crypto-related stuff. Although some major ISPs are pulling out from the Russian market, they still have their own which is RuNet as I have seen in one of the Youtube videos I’ve watched. But sad to say that social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, etc., are now getting blocked in Russia.

One of the beautiful influencers with around 23 million followers are crying in tears in her last Instagram video before the internet regulator officially cutting off Instagram in their country. But however, I did see in her bio that is a link to her Telegram channel or group. Meaning to say that Telegram is still operational in Russia.

For the worst-case scenario, they should be using VPNs in order to continue posting in various sites who blocked them.

[Argoo]

Russia is considering shutting down the internet connection to the rest of the globe. What will occur? Is the hash rate decreasing? What will happen if the connection is re-established in a few years?

Possibly Putin might not have thought of the implications on the other side because as at now, situation of their economy system is bad not to talk of how their currency was devalued, most bitcoin investors leaving the country to seek for a new start, although the effect does not have anything to do with the hash rate as i believe most of the miners too would have seek to relocate to a safety location.

In Russia, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram have been very quickly turned off lately. Now they intend to turn off the Internet completely. The first thing to ask is, what is the purpose of this?
The Putin regime wants to prolong its existence by hiding from its people the course of the war in Ukraine and the heavy losses of Russians in manpower and equipment, so that the indignation of the people does not turn into destructive riots with the overthrow of power. Putin does not care about his people, and the economy, and the Internet, and cryptocurrency. He is doing everything he can to keep  in power a little longer. Stupid, insane old man... Coffins all the same massively went to all corners of Russia.