I am facing a real world issue that prevents me from using Bitcoin.
I live in Pakistan and for last three days cellular internet service all across the country is suspended because of prevailing law and order situation. Internet is working on fixed line connection that is reaching homes. So there is still some connectivity available.
If government shut down internet service even on fixed line connection then there will be complete internet blackout in the country and in that situation we cant use bitcoin.
I think this is also one of limitation of bitcoin that we need internet to use it.
It is true that bitcoin needs the internet in order to be used at all, but is it really such a great limitation? Maybe if this was the early nineties I would agree, but the internet is only getting faster, more readily available and it is becoming one of the keys for the success of any modern society.
And even if governments can shutdown the internet to stop bitcoin, would they dare? This will affect the economy of their countries in a major way, and at the end it would not solve anything, because as soon as they activated the internet again then bitcoin will work again as if nothing happened.
Nowadays, cutting off the internet for a long time is impossible when every device depends on it. internet and electricity are two things like food and water to a person. Without either, a healthy person will become weak and lead to death if this condition persists. as far as I know, what's going on in Pakistan, the government is disrupting the internet for political purposes, not for bitcoin. So this situation will be resolved soon.