What happens to Bitcoin during an EMP / Solar Flare?

[Cummins59]

Just curious, we are looking into opening a mining operation ( high scale ) but according to recent news the US just missed an EMP from the sun that would have put the US back in the 18th century. In other words it would have shorted out and melted anything electronic. At that point in time or if there was an EMP attack against the US what happens to Bitcoin? Does it immediately become worthless? You won't be able to do anything with them and if stored online they won't be retrievable as they will probably be erased when all hard drives are smoked.

I know this sounds like it can't happen but it very easily can.

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[stryker]

bitcoin = decentralised.  If just one full node out of the many many thousands world-wide survives then bitcoin can repropagate.

This is why its important we still have plenty of full nodes round the globe and not just these "light" clients.

In another scenario, if say somehow the USA got cut off from the rest of the world, then the block chain would fork.  There would be the chain being mined in USA and the chain being mined in the rest of the world.  When the USA came back on-line the longest chain would be the winner, the fork would be over and again... bitcoin would continue.

Think that covers the major bitcoin apocalyptic scenarios :-)

[MegaHustlr]

If something like a solar flare happened then it would probably wipe out all other technology including fiat payment systems. And America isn't the world. There's plenty of other countries with miners in that will be safe and will carry on.

[joshraban76]

I'm sure that there are some people with Faraday cages and protections from something like that here in the US. We just would need one to stay online. Also if we had an EMP strike I would think there would be bigger worries then if your bitcoin is safe.

[gentlemand]

I'm sure some of the heavy duty mining operations are installed in properly protected facilities. I suspect the humongous majority of the world is not, so there may still be Bitcoin but no one outside the occasional bunker is going to have any interest in it.

[Meuh6879]

  even a desktop tower is a faraday cage ... but "line at the outside" ... not.

with solar event, only "grid" is affected ... not the devices.  

[Abdussamad]

LOL most miners are actually in China

[franky1]

this guy gets it

bitcoin = decentralised.  If just one full node out of the many many thousands world-wide survives then bitcoin can repropagate.

but you lot should worry more about your fiat bank accounts and ATM machines.. because if they go boom, you go bust

[CasinoBit]

Bitcoin will be the least of your worries as everyone will be looting and raping everything in sight

[yayayo]

bitcoin = decentralised.  If just one full node out of the many many thousands world-wide survives then bitcoin can repropagate.

This and even if the whole network breaks down for a period of time the blockchain would still exist on some storage devices. So network operation could resume in the future.

If really anything electronic goes defunct you would have no internet, no banking , no electricity, no water, and nothing to buy at the supermarkets after a few days because nowadays everything is managed electronically... so I think in that case a working bitcoin network might be a nice thing, but nothing really important...

ya.ya.yo!

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

If that solar flare had hit America, the whole world would've fallen into chaos. America may not be the only country in the world, but it's still a huge factor.

[Meuh6879]

need to view : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805663/

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

need to view : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805663/

Jericho was a good series, but it got cancelled. They apparently managed to bring it back for a second season, but it got cancelled again.

[Meuh6879]

i link this because is it in the right line of this thread ... 
this serie answer at all question about EMP... too.

[LiteCoinGuy]

or after:




or:

[Baitty]

I think Bitcoin would be the last of things you would be worrying about Bitcoin probably wouldn't survive in all honestly supply and demand would be gone because people would want to survive instead of getting rich...if a solar had hit then that would spell the end for most technology not just Bitcoin.

[ScreamnShout]

bitcoin = decentralised.  If just one full node out of the many many thousands world-wide survives then bitcoin can repropagate.

This and even if the whole network breaks down for a period of time the blockchain would still exist on some storage devices. So network operation could resume in the future.

This is the most important point of bitcoin. As long as the blockchain is intact then the network could simply resume working once it is possible to communicate again.

[Baitty]

bitcoin = decentralised.  If just one full node out of the many many thousands world-wide survives then bitcoin can repropagate.

This and even if the whole network breaks down for a period of time the blockchain would still exist on some storage devices. So network operation could resume in the future.

This is the most important point of bitcoin. As long as the blockchain is intact then the network could simply resume working once it is possible to communicate again.

It's indeed a good security measure but in a disaster I don't think Bitcoin would be any use to anyone which is why having millions of nodes won't help a tiny bit.

[galbros]

The coins are on the blockchain, so as long as a "correct" copy of it prevailed and your had your private keys your bitcoins would remain accessible.

EMP is bad, no doubt, but I doubt a natural one would totally wipe out any large industrial country, and as others have pointed out, the US banking system is way more vulnerable (and valuable) than bitcoin to something like this.

[cr1776]

A few books if you want to read more about it:
1. One Second After
2. Lights Out
3. 77 Days in September


You can also read about Starfish Prime (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime) if you want to read some from quite a while ago.