What happens to cryptocurrency when there is no internet

Bitcoin has already established itself in an important niche — digital gold. However, it is not yet clear how Bitcoin will develop and which developments and setbacks we must expect. But the network has been running flawlessly for over 11 years now and has worked from day one. Nevertheless, the majority of people are more than skeptical. Time and again, various points are mentioned that describe Bitcoin as not a real alternative. Among them is the dependence on the Internet. But how dependent is Bitcoin really on the Internet, and what options are there to protect us from Internet failure or censorship?

Use Bitcoin ‘Offline

Woodfine made it clear that by “offline transactions,” he meant “Internet-minimized” transactions since the transaction data must ultimately always be delivered to the miners. The solution had to be ideally suited for environments with low power consumption, such as in the event of a natural disaster.

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Another challenge for an offline solution would be the resource requirements for operating a Bitcoin full node. The node’s processes consume about 20 gigabytes per month. According to Woodfine, the bandwidth capacity for “non-Internet-based, cheap, consumer-quality network options” is relatively low. He added that the size of transactions would not be a problem. Each transaction fits into ~250 bytes. So he said:

It’s easy to transfer, and it’s easy to hide. The data can’t just be stopped.

Other ways to send transactions and maintain consensus

With WiFi rebroadcasts' help, a single “satnode” can make the Bitcoin blockchain data available to an entire area or a community, whereby the blockchain can also be verified offline. When using a mesh network such as goTenna, which is integrated with the Blockstream Satellite or LoRaWAN popular in IoT applications, the “Satnode” local area can reliably send and receive BTC transactions. This happens by forwarding transaction data over the mesh to a mesh node connected to the Internet. Besides, mobile wallets could also link in this way.

Woodfine also said that mobile devices could help build Bitcoin’s offline network, as transactions can be forwarded by text message to a device connected to the Internet. This can be done using tools such as txTenna, Pony Direct, or SMSPushTX.

One thing is sure: there is no ‘shutting down the Internet’ with Bitcoin.