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Been so caught up with the Tornado Cash trial that I never really got to tell you all how excited I am about bitchat, so here's an article I wrote on Meshnetworks and using bitcoin without the Internet three years ago. I don't think any of us are ready for how much we'll be needing this with the way things have been going.

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From Gemini: Title: Bitcoin Without Internet? How Meshtastic + Bitchat Keep BTC Alive ⛓️ Here’s a look at two amazing offline communication tools and how they can team up to support Bitcoin, even if the internet goes down. Meshtastic: The Long-Haul Network πŸ“‘ Think of this as the long-distance runner for Bitcoin data. * What it is: A network of small, low-power radio devices using LoRa (Long Range) technology. * Range: Can send messages over many kilometers. The mesh network lets messages "hop" between devices to go even further. * For Bitcoin: A standard Bitcoin transaction is small enough (~200 bytes) to fit in one Meshtastic message. This makes it perfect for broadcasting transactions over a wide area, connecting different towns or regions. Bitchat: The Local Buzz 🐝 This is your neighborhood's high-speed network for BTC. * What it is: A decentralized chat app that uses the Bluetooth on your phone to create a local mesh network. * Range: Best for shorter distances, like within a marketplace, neighborhood, or event. * For Bitcoin: Perfect for exchanging transaction info quickly and reliably in dense areas where many people are close to each other. * Note: This is different from the old "Bitmessage" protocol, which required internet. Better Together: The Ultimate Combo 🀝 This is where the magic happens. They aren't competitors; they're teammates. * Local Transactions: People in a town use Bitchat on their phones to exchange BTC transactions locally. It's fast and efficient. * The Gateway: One person in the town runs a "gateway" node that has both Bitchat (Bluetooth) and Meshtastic (LoRa radio). * The Broadcast: This gateway gathers all the local transactions from the Bitchat network and then broadcasts them out over the long-range Meshtastic network. * Connecting the World: Other Meshtastic nodes miles away pick up these transactions, ensuring they eventually reach someone with a connection to the main Bitcoin network (like a satellite link), securing them on the blockchain. Key Advantages πŸ† * βœ… Resilience: No single point of failure. If one node goes down, messages find another path. * βœ… Scalability: Keeps local traffic local (Bitchat) so it doesn't clog the long-range network (Meshtastic). * βœ… Low Power: Both technologies are designed for battery-powered devices, crucial in an outage. By combining these two technologies, we can build a robust, multi-layered system to ensure Bitcoin remains a usable, peer-to-peer currency for everyone, everywhere, under any circumstances.
A chat app which needs an open Bluetooth connection sounds creepy. Bluetooth is a weak point of a phone which should be turned off. #Bitchat
L0la L33tz's avatar L0la L33tz
Been so caught up with the Tornado Cash trial that I never really got to tell you all how excited I am about bitchat, so here's an article I wrote on Meshnetworks and using bitcoin without the Internet three years ago. I don't think any of us are ready for how much we'll be needing this with the way things have been going.
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