History for paulm

ballane

Dont pretend to understand this stuff but are Tonga going to have to rely on Eion Musk to recue their communications again if they were to sadly suffer another major event. Or if Putin decides to push the big or little red button what impact will that have on bitcoin.
In other words  if the internet and communications are severely compromised how does/can bitcoin work

The internet is a point of failure for bitcoin, but also all other money, and basically everything else in modern human civilisation. If it goes down globally, heaven help us. 
If your local internet is compromised you can't use bitcoin, just as you can't use the current fiat money system any longer either. No one is really holding cash, and without the internet you can't withdraw cash from ATMs, so it rules that out. Retailers could theoretically accept cash only, but nothing else without the internet. 
I attempted to pay with cash at a cafe yesterday and couldn't - they are cashless permanently. I paid cash at a pharmacy and they took me to the one out of 6 tills that had cash. It's now basically in the same boat as bitcoin when it comes to the requirement for the internet. 
If the internet is compromised on a global scale, then money is the least of your worries, it will be absolute anarchy. And again, you won't be able to use fiat money just the same as you won't be able to use bitcoin. 
I understand from Lord Fusitua that in the first 24 hours after the eruption, the only internet connection with the outside world was a satellite connection that was being used to run a Bitcoin Lightning Node in Tonga, which is an interesting little quirk! A lot of Bitcoiners are connecting their nodes using that technology to remove the risk of the internet provider middle man, which is an interesting development. I am wanting to get one myself, hoping it gets slightly cheaper, although I have seen one set-up for $400 recently which is do-able. 

ballane

Dont pretend to understand this stuff but are Tonga going to have to rely on Eion Musk to recue their communications again if they were to sadly suffer another major event. Or if Putin decides to push the big or little red button what impact will that have on bitcoin.
In other words  if the internet and communications are severely compromised how does/can bitcoin work

The internet is a point of failure for bitcoin, but also all other money, and basically everything else in modern human civilisation. If it goes down globally, heaven help us. 
If your local internet is compromised you can't use bitcoin, just as you can't use the current fiat money system any longer either. No one is really holding cash, and without the internet you can't withdraw cash from ATMs, so it rules that out. Retailers could theoretically accept cash only, but nothing else without the internet. 
I attempted to pay with cash at a cafe yesterday and couldn't - they are cashless permanently. I paid cash at a pharmacy and they took me to the one out of 6 tills that had cash. It's now basically in the same boat as bitcoin when it comes to the requirement for the internet. 
If the internet is compromised on a global scale, then money is the least of your worries, it will be absolute anarchy. And again, you won't be able to use fiat money just the same as you won't be able to use bitcoin. 
I understand from Lord Fusitua that in the first 24 hours after the eruption, the only internet connection with the outside world was a satellite connection that was being used to run a Bitcoin Lightning Node in Tonga, which is an interesting little quirk! A lot of Bitcoiners are connecting their nodes using that technology to remove the risk of the internet provider middle man, which is an interesting development. I am wanting to get one myself, a connection with no provider, hoping it gets slightly cheaper, although I have seen one set-up for $400 recently which is do-able.