Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: What if Governments Shutdown the Internet?
by
ABISprotocol
on 30/06/2017, 07:56:28 UTC

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)?


TL;DR:  Yes.

See, for example, some discussion of the offline transmission of wood and paper token concept at

https://thecryptosphere.com/2015/05/19/rebuilding-communities-and-identities-with-usb-sticks-and-love-by-anonyodinn/

People tend to forget that NFC capacity is built right into bitcoin so that makes it easy to scan and do all sorts of things with, without actually having to have a full "online" system completely operational.  There have been whole discussions about transacting without confirmations and consensus (to a certain degree, in other words without a great many people available to do so until a network is developed or recovers) and YES IT IS POSSIBLE, I don't want to have this conversation all over again.  So I won't even go there.  Will not beat a dead horse.

See the total offline setup with minimal hardware requirements (though you'd also need to add some small solar panels and ideally a small battery bank - you can buy all this solar energy stuff you need in REI sporting goods store nowadays)

http://betteroffbitcoin.com/a-protocol-for-offline-bitcoin-over-radio-transactions/

Note that you will need to have this set up (with written instructions on paper) before a major event hits such as a power outage / natural disaster / war problem.  But yes.  It is absolutely possible and not only that, people are doing it.  

Also, it's possible to broadcast bitcoin txs over television (which doesn't require internet and doesn't require MURS radio setup... but if the power goes out regionally so does the TV.  

However, I should point out that it's possible to do it via TV, anyway, which doesn't rely upon internet.  It's also already been done so it's not just a hypothetical as in "what if we could."  Since it has already been done in (a couple) countries, I've suggested that it also be tried in China as an anti-censorship mechanism.

They will never get rid of their TV, so.... you know, ride the wave.