Post
Topic
Board Development & Technical Discussion
Merits 27 from 11 users
Topic OP
First Bitcoin, then Blockstream Satellite. How about we go fully decentralized?
by
20kevin20
on 10/10/2021, 22:15:58 UTC
⭐ Merited by Welsh (10) ,o_e_l_e_o (4) ,Pmalek (3) ,n0nce (2) ,pooya87 (2) ,BlackHatCoiner (1) ,ETFbitcoin (1) ,witcher_sense (1) ,dkbit98 (1) ,hosseinimr93 (1) ,JayJuanGee (1)
I think that one of the problems Bitcoin will be facing over the long term is the aftermath of some disastrous events. I'm talking about events leading to internet blackouts or power cuts. These events include but are not limited to strong cyber attacks, fuel shortage (see Lebanon), earthquakes and so on.

If power or the internet goes down, it's safe to assume that Bitcoin becomes practically worthless/useless in an instant for anyone who's living the aftermaths. We're talking about situations like the current one Lebanon is facing. Had this happened in a much larger nation like the US, I think Bitcoin would've confronted a huge sell-off and loss of interest/trust.

We currently have Blockstream's Satellite which can be either a DIY setup or you could buy the equipment (when it's in stock anyway) off their website AFAIK. I read every now and then a bit about it, but I never had much interest in it. The reason? It's seemingly difficult for a beginner to set it up, it isn't the most portable thing you can have and it's not affordable for the regular guy. Can't see the regular Bitcoiner to own a Satellite setup.

On the other hand, there is GoTenna with their TxTenna. This one is portable, it's much cheaper but as far as I know, the company behind it doesn't care much about the regular GoTennas anymore since they took the military equipment more seriously. When you have a new company providing the regular Joes a way to go off-grid and independent from ISPs or network carriers, you as a military force have to bait them and pull them away from the average Joes .. anyway.

There must be a way to create a device that is affordable, portable and allows you at the same time to be your own bank without depending on ISPs or network carriers no more. I might be very wrong, but I think ham radios can be used to send e-mails. Not sure if there are any ham radios that you can use without a license in some countries (e.g. the US), but perhaps Bitcoin transactions could be transmitted through radio frequencies? There were some kind of radios that you could transmit over a range of up to .. 200 miles (or kms) as well? Is there absolutely no way this can be done?

We have so much technology to use and Bitcoin is imo still just at the beginning. Building a rechargeable device that allows for fully offline Bitcoin txs to happen would make it about invincible even in disastrous events. Is this a bad/impossible-to-realise idea? What do you think?