Quote from: henry_p on January 08, 2022, 09:30:17 PM

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on January 08, 2022, 03:24:48 PM

What you are describing as 'offline mining' is no better than putting a note in a bottle, tossing it in the ocean and waiting for someone to pick it up, read it and then replying with another note in a bottle.

At least with DBS links there is no blocking possible by a gov simply pulling the plug although latency will certainly be an issue.

I do understand that mining requires node to communicate. I am talking about communication without internet, not "absence" of a communication link. I used the word "offline" at the end referring specifically to internet being down, though I understand the confusion and edited that part. What a goTenna can indeed be compared to "tossing [transactions] in the ocean", but that isn't the topic.

I doubt that governments can't shut that down DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite). That would mean that they also can't force BlockStream to stop feeding data to the satellite. And being centralized, BlockStream itself can decide to stop broadcasting. But as I said, it is indeed a very good tool that can provide for the inbound part of the communication.

I believe that the operator of a big mining farm would happily use communication channels with a few seconds latency over being completely disconnected and have their hardware sitting idle.

A miner (especially a solo miner) does NOT NEED low latency. In fact, Bitcoin and Proof-of-Work are DESIGNED for high latency and low throughput. Lower latency if is financially preferable for miners and reduce the likelihood of stale blocks, but is in no way a requirement for the network to be healthy and fully operational

Does anyone know if the BlockStream (or any) satellite can receive blocks or transactions? (other than the company itself, of course)

"but is in no way a requirement for the network to be healthy and fully operational" Yes it's required, because as you know... and said... you will be in a "blackhole" of stale blocks

Blockstream was not developed for Mining Purpose, it is core-lightning Network solution... since beginn when Adam tried to push the idea, many people was not accepting because most people that time was looking for mining solution... well Peter and some other crypto guys from many places, like from Japan, Holland and Australia, they've started to show how it was possible to run the "lightningnetwork/ppa" ... I remembered ho Pi was very nice for that and how we could register all transactions... but the main purpose was to open a registration channel or a second backup line that could work as a "Liquid" side channel to guarantee the stable life of the $BTC ... specifically when it was necessary to confirm the transactions reducing delays and stopping the unconfirmated transfer of bitcoins... with the first real Huge Pump around 2017-2018 the things started to gain more attention and many exchanges started to adopt the Lightning Network. This process (for me) saves the Life of $BTC, but this is another discussion about forks whatever... focus on your issue... what you are trying to follow... as a Miner is (almost) completely insane... also Adam offers this service as a real Business Class for mining, called as "Blockstream Mining" ... but I'm completely sure that it's just another way to use a "middle central idea" to produce pow coins, exactly, as is produced from Asia Miners like Antminer or from all chinese "controlled" companies like Viabtc Technology Limited... well if you want to mine, there is no other better way like to be fast and to have power... it is that... you need to have a real fast stable connection, really connected many nodes, 100% accurated and of course with power... I'm meaning hashrate a real decent hashrate... Undecided