| bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies function without a ubiquitous internet as in: someone’s will always have computers linked together networking cant be shut off, ubiquity can end users dont need todays convenience of always knowing their balance, it can degrade to going to an internet cafe or bank to check your balance and transact with your notes transactions can be made offline, transported offline like files and eventually sent to the network again for inclusion in the blockchain someone has to go back to the internet cafe / bank like the merchant at the end of the day the only real issue is the initial hashrate drop if all major mining nodes were disconnected and couldnt reconnect. so up to the first few months, for bitcoin exclusively, could be stressful, but then difficulty will adjust for the remaining computers and accept transactions at the expected speed |
Similarly once you spend that coin with me, others may trust that I now have that coin to spend because of the same collective verification structure.
Offline transactions eliminate such trust capabilities due to the lack of transaction and balance verification.