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1) We're heading closer and closer to a world where none of this bullshit(pardon my Frank) can happen. 2) You think REGULAR currencies have much more value tha

1) We're heading closer and closer to a world where none of this bullshit(pardon my Frank) can happen. 2) You think REGULAR currencies have much more value than cryptocurrencies during these types of crises? 3) If Syria hypothetically still has a working "intranet" but not a working "internet", then Bitcoin will continue working just fine for them while they're not connected to the rest of us. After the Syrians re-connect, their branch will be withered, but not dead. Re-merging will be automatic when the Internet returns.

Jabbles 13y ago
Re-merging does not work like that. All Syrian transactions will effectively be reversed. That's assuming that they managed to mine anything, with such a small fraction of the usual computing power available.
- Anderkent 13y ago
  The difficulty level adjusts to the mining power. And only transactions that were double-spent will be reversed, since nodes will re-broadcast transactions from the short chain onto the long chain, and those that weren't double spent will be accepted.
  - eurleif 13y ago
    >The difficulty level adjusts to the mining power. But difficulty adjustments occur every 2016 blocks, not instantly. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#How_often_does_the_difficulty_change.3F https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#How_often_does_the_dif...
  - teraflop 13y ago
    There's another important class of transactions that are reversed: mining outputs. In order to accept a payment from someone while isolated from the network, you have to carefully check that all the coins they're sending you were generated before the split, or else those coins will evaporate at some point in the future.
  - cookiecaper 13y ago
    Assuming that we can just reconnect the segments after a brief downtime, like we do now if a backhoe accidentally hits the line into your apartment complex or something. Such a situation is not necessarily so simply resolved in wartime, when opposing factions have a serious interest in depriving telecomms from one another.
tomkarlo 13y ago
If we dropped you into the middle of Syria right now, would you rather have: 1. $10,000 in USD currency 2. $10,000 USD equiv in gold 3. $10,000 USD equiv in bitcoin I'm pretty sure the only practical answer is (1). That pretty much answers your question (2).
- brador 13y ago
  Interesting. But if 1. Was not available would you rather have 2. Or 3.?
  - tomkarlo 13y ago
    Obviously 2. Bitcoin is pretty useless if you don't have a dependable electrical grid or internet. I'd rather have $10,000 in USD, EUR or GLD than $1M in Bitcoin in a war zone where I had no other funds. Heck, I'd rather have gasoline or coffee than bitcoin.

Jabbles 13y ago

Re-merging does not work like that. All Syrian transactions will effectively be reversed. That's assuming that they managed to mine anything, with such a small fraction of the usual computing power available.

Anderkent 13y ago
The difficulty level adjusts to the mining power. And only transactions that were double-spent will be reversed, since nodes will re-broadcast transactions from the short chain onto the long chain, and those that weren't double spent will be accepted.
- eurleif 13y ago
  >The difficulty level adjusts to the mining power. But difficulty adjustments occur every 2016 blocks, not instantly. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#How_often_does_the_difficulty_change.3F https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#How_often_does_the_dif...
- teraflop 13y ago
  There's another important class of transactions that are reversed: mining outputs. In order to accept a payment from someone while isolated from the network, you have to carefully check that all the coins they're sending you were generated before the split, or else those coins will evaporate at some point in the future.
- cookiecaper 13y ago
  Assuming that we can just reconnect the segments after a brief downtime, like we do now if a backhoe accidentally hits the line into your apartment complex or something. Such a situation is not necessarily so simply resolved in wartime, when opposing factions have a serious interest in depriving telecomms from one another.

tomkarlo 13y ago

If we dropped you into the middle of Syria right now, would you rather have: 1. $10,000 in USD currency 2. $10,000 USD equiv in gold 3. $10,000 USD equiv in bitcoin I'm pretty sure the only practical answer is (1). That pretty much answers your question (2).

brador 13y ago
Interesting. But if 1. Was not available would you rather have 2. Or 3.?
- tomkarlo 13y ago
  Obviously 2. Bitcoin is pretty useless if you don't have a dependable electrical grid or internet. I'd rather have $10,000 in USD, EUR or GLD than $1M in Bitcoin in a war zone where I had no other funds. Heck, I'd rather have gasoline or coffee than bitcoin.