Can bitcoin survive without the Internet?

[Ayers]

you could implement freenet in bitcoin, so you don't need centralized internet anymore

[MÖGUL™]

Bitcoins only exist in the cyberworld without it, there is no validation to it. So of course it cant survive without the internet. Though there will always be a way to connect to the internet and the internet will always be around as there is millions if not billions of businesses that rely on it. So I would worry about that!

BTC The Future

[STforLife]

When, I talk to people about bitcoin, they often tell me that it is BS because yoa can not use it without electricity. They are like, when electricity in your area will go off, you are poorest guy in world. I found that argument stupid, but dont really know what to tell them. for some reason they all count on not having electricity available...

[zedicus]

Radio waves could work, but let's assume no wireless communication...

Bitcoin could probably survive without internet per-se, but there would still have to be a Bitcoin network. Perhaps people could print out signed transactions and deliver or mail them to their local node, which would exchange with some other nodes (either on paper of digital media such as SD cards). Each region/nation could have a "supernode" clearing-houses which would receive local transactions and send them to foreign supernodes  (maybe via telegraph cables? If we are generous to ourselves) and vice-versa in order to speed the regular node-to-node propagation.

(*Sigh*, when I started this post I didn't realize how ridiculous this would sound)

I have little idea how mining would work because I don't know enough about how it works now, but presumably blocks could be distributed by the same methods, although mining might have to be done by super-nodes exclusively.

In that situation, I'd say paper currency is probably better, BUT I would like to see the look on my face when I get a letter in the snail-mail letting me know that "You've received a Bitcoin payment for 125 mBTC!" or "Your payment of 125 mBTC to 1CBNHbNNJ4C3dTELRJq312hXFwUqxg7bnm has been confirmed!"

A letter in the mail would not allow you to know if the TX was actually confirmed, nor would it allow you to check for double spends and reject the TX if your letter is a double spend.

You'd get a letter several days later letting you know that "Your payment of 125 mBTC to 1CBNHbNNJ4C3dTELRJq312hXFwUqxg7bnm has been confirmed!"

Who would send this letter? I can't imagine anyone paying for anything close to this kind of service without there being some kind of central authority. Additionally a letter in the mail will cost at least 34 cents while most transactions today cost 5 cents making it at the very minimum 7 times as expensive to send a TX then with "todays" bitcoin.

The nodes would. I'm sure there would probably be a fee to "connect" to nodes as well. Increased costs are to be expected any time there is a massive reduction in technology.

One of the major benefits of bitcoin is that it is, for all intensive purposes free to use (yes you have to pay very little to spend your money, but this is an insignificant amount). If you were to have to pay upwards of $0.34+ to send a TX (it would actually be much more as the nodes would need to send multiple letters to other nodes re: the TX, probably 100x as much) it would make much less sense to use bitcoin.

EDIT: today there are roughly 7k nodes on the network. If a node would have to send 7k letters each time a TX was sent then it would cost almost $2,400 per TX, and this is a lot more then the average TX size. What this would be good for is a way to save the US postal service.

[xkeyscore89]

When, I talk to people about bitcoin, they often tell me that it is BS because yoa can not use it without electricity. They are like, when electricity in your area will go off, you are poorest guy in world. I found that argument stupid, but dont really know what to tell them. for some reason they all count on not having electricity available...

Their argument is technically true. Without electricity, you would likely not be able to connect to the internet. Without an internet connect you would not be able to connect to the bitcoin network in order to broadcast a TX for anything you would want to buy. This is just further proof that bitcoin would not be able to function without the internet.

[CoinsCoinsEverywhere]

When, I talk to people about bitcoin, they often tell me that it is BS because yoa can not use it without electricity. They are like, when electricity in your area will go off, you are poorest guy in world. I found that argument stupid, but dont really know what to tell them. for some reason they all count on not having electricity available...

Tell them this: credit cards, ATMs, and online bill payment won't work without electricity, either.  Yes, you could still pay with cash, but who has thousands of dollars in cash laying around at home?  You should always have some for emergencies, but if electricity is out for weeks or more, there will be major major problems.

[niothor]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

Yes, it's possible if some authority decide to shut down Internet but hope this will never happen.

There was an editorial in the WSJ today that highlighted the thread of a nuke being detonated over North America. It said that the EMP would do serious damage to the entire country. I would argue that this would be the only real way to shut down the internet and/or "ban" bitcoin.

It's not that complicated.
Remember that woman in Georgia that cut a few cables and two countries were left offline for two days?

The internet is just a bunch of computers hooked with cables , cut 4 or 5 of the most important ones and chaos will rule.

http://gizmodo.com/5912383/how-to-destroy-the-internet

[CoinsCoinsEverywhere]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

Yes, it's possible if some authority decide to shut down Internet but hope this will never happen.

There was an editorial in the WSJ today that highlighted the thread of a nuke being detonated over North America. It said that the EMP would do serious damage to the entire country. I would argue that this would be the only real way to shut down the internet and/or "ban" bitcoin.

It's not that complicated.
Remember that woman in Georgia that cut a few cables and two countries were left offline for two days?

The internet is just a bunch of computers hooked with cables , cut 4 or 5 of the most important ones and chaos will rule.

http://gizmodo.com/5912383/how-to-destroy-the-internet

What's even more scary is that the power grid is pretty similar.  There are only a few places through which a lot of the electricity passes (at least in the US).  Although, I would imagine that a lot of places could still get at least some power from local power plants.  I'm not sure how all of that is set up.

[niothor]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

Yes, it's possible if some authority decide to shut down Internet but hope this will never happen.

There was an editorial in the WSJ today that highlighted the thread of a nuke being detonated over North America. It said that the EMP would do serious damage to the entire country. I would argue that this would be the only real way to shut down the internet and/or "ban" bitcoin.

It's not that complicated.
Remember that woman in Georgia that cut a few cables and two countries were left offline for two days?

The internet is just a bunch of computers hooked with cables , cut 4 or 5 of the most important ones and chaos will rule.

http://gizmodo.com/5912383/how-to-destroy-the-internet

What's even more scary is that the power grid is pretty similar.  There are only a few places through which a lot of the electricity passes (at least in the US).  Although, I would imagine that a lot of places could still get at least some power from local power plants.  I'm not sure how all of that is set up.

To power up your house you only need your equipment.
Solar panels , wind or gas generators.

In the case of the internet you don't only need your computer and your equipment but you also need the others to have those and in place plus a way of communicating with them.

You can have your own power plant but you can't have your own internet.

[MajidBC]

If the internet goes out of reach, a lot of governments and companies will take a huge damage. Let's take just websites which sell goods online, such as amazon and ebay. Can you estimate how much they earn per minute? They will be the first who sue the operators of any internet interruption.

[zedicus]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

Yes, it's possible if some authority decide to shut down Internet but hope this will never happen.

There was an editorial in the WSJ today that highlighted the thread of a nuke being detonated over North America. It said that the EMP would do serious damage to the entire country. I would argue that this would be the only real way to shut down the internet and/or "ban" bitcoin.

It's not that complicated.
Remember that woman in Georgia that cut a few cables and two countries were left offline for two days?

The internet is just a bunch of computers hooked with cables , cut 4 or 5 of the most important ones and chaos will rule.

http://gizmodo.com/5912383/how-to-destroy-the-internet

What's even more scary is that the power grid is pretty similar.  There are only a few places through which a lot of the electricity passes (at least in the US).  Although, I would imagine that a lot of places could still get at least some power from local power plants.  I'm not sure how all of that is set up.

The electric grid is not as sensitive to disruptions as the internet is. Yes some areas of the country have to purchase electricity from other places of the country however this electricity does not travel huge distances. You will generally not consume electricity generated in CA in New York. But rather you might consume power generated in NV in CA, which border each-other.

[virtfund]

Well it is called internet money...

[richardramirez9]

No chance to survive without internet obviously, but some are trying to start their own internet, so no worries about that.

[MoonTime]

Internet is the backbone of Bitcoin,could a person move without a backbone?Of course not,so bitcoin will extinct without internet.

[waterpile]

Bitcoin needs internet how can it sync without it

[axnstara]

Bitcoin needs internet how can it sync without it

Soon you won't be needing any internet to be able to connect bitcoin network. http://kryptoradio.koodilehto.fi/

They are starting testing soon in Finland.

[Justine]

If Internet has shut down, the whole world will affect not only bitcoin. So I think living without the Internet nowadays is impossible to happened.

Yes, it's possible if some authority decide to shut down Internet but hope this will never happen.

There was an editorial in the WSJ today that highlighted the thread of a nuke being detonated over North America. It said that the EMP would do serious damage to the entire country. I would argue that this would be the only real way to shut down the internet and/or "ban" bitcoin.

It's not that complicated.
Remember that woman in Georgia that cut a few cables and two countries were left offline for two days?

The internet is just a bunch of computers hooked with cables , cut 4 or 5 of the most important ones and chaos will rule.

http://gizmodo.com/5912383/how-to-destroy-the-internet

What's even more scary is that the power grid is pretty similar.  There are only a few places through which a lot of the electricity passes (at least in the US).  Although, I would imagine that a lot of places could still get at least some power from local power plants.  I'm not sure how all of that is set up.

To power up your house you only need your equipment.
Solar panels , wind or gas generators.

In the case of the internet you don't only need your computer and your equipment but you also need the others to have those and in place plus a way of communicating with them.

You can have your own power plant but you can't have your own internet.

Didn't realize the internet required so many "things" to work properly for us to use it. Bitcoin and blockchain are highly depended on the internet to operate without a fuss.

So if internet is to go down, so too will bitcoin and blockchain.

[noel57]

No, it can't because the whole concept of bitcoin in the first place was created to facilitate online exchanges done mainly on the internet.

[melisande]

This is like telling an astronaut to go to the moon without oxygen containers.

[PowerCordZ]

There is no bitcoin without Internet.