Thursday 01 September 2022 ▪ 9:00 in ▪
5
min read – with
Without the internet, there will be no more bitcoins or cryptocurrencies, some would say. But it should be noted that these assets do not deserve the status of “redemptive technology” if they are limited to one channel. Of course, during a total collapse Internet, you can always make bitcoin transfers, wherever you are, even disconnected from the web.
History of bitcoin transactions via radio waves
In March 2019, Coindesk highlighted the success of an international Lightning payment through an amateur radio network. This was started by two developers working in different countries. They are Rodolfo Novak, co-founder of CoinKite, and Elaine Ou, columnist and blockchain engineer.
Why are we talking about an international transaction? In fact, the two were separated by several thousand kilometers: the first lived in Toronto (Canada) and the other San Francisco (California).
And what makes this action unique? In fact, both did not use the internet for sending lightning bitcoin payment. All they needed was an amateur radio network.
News that confirms our presentation on the future of bitcoin in the absence of the internet. Beside satnodes and mobile text messaging is, in fact, a radio technology. If you are used to using it to listen to music or radio broadcasts, the new power of the radio will surprise you.
Bitcoin Archive, surprised by the existence of this alternative, received a discordant comment from _qc_ on Twitter.
” Want to be blown away?
Payment in Bitcoin / LN can be sent on any wireless communication medium. Bluetooth, radio, wifi, GPS, infrared, laser…
All we need is a blockchain-connected wallet to periodically lock the sub-libraries.
The next step is to create a multi-channel portfolio. »
Bitcoin that will survive an internet blackout
Apparently, sending bitcoins via radio waves made these two intermediaries happy.
” It was a fun show, but of course unrealistic, because we coordinated everything online before sending the radio signals Mrs Ou exulted.
” The equipment is currently the hardest part: you need a radio that supports those frequencies. The cheapest way is a software-defined radio, which costs about $200 for something that can transmit low-power signals, or thousands for a high-power transmitter. “, she said.
Note that they could not have successfully transferred such bitcoins without Nick Szabo, the father of the smart contract. Elaine Ou and this one, two years before, worked together to strengthen the resistance of the Bitcoin network against fragmentation attacks. The idea was presented at the Scaling Bitcoin conference held in San Francisco in 2017.
Therefore, if the Internet were to be censored, or even dissolved, bitcoin will not stop like other cryptocurrencies.
Novak also praised this successful BTC payment on the real Lightning Network via radio waves.
Surprised at the speed of communication, he said:
” Radio waves travel at the speed of light in air at 300,000 km/s, through copper it would be 5% slower. »
Overall, this LN bitcoin transaction based on an amateur radio network showed that even centralized amateur rulers will not be able to do anything against cryptocurrencies. And if the world is afraid of possible sabotage of the European Internet by Putin, these can always be used for something. Admittedly, such a situation is not desirable, but you never know what our leaders are up to.
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The blockchain and crypto revolution is underway! And the day the effects are felt on the most fragile economy in this world, against all hope, I will say that I was involved.
