No access to the internet? In addition to not being able to browse tweets or the latest heart-melting cat eating corn on the cob video, lack of a connection means users can’t make Bitcoin payments.

Researchers have long been exploring how to get around this problem in the case of natural disasters or in areas of the world where internet access is spottier. Wireless computer researcher Ahmet Kurt pointed to the 2017 hurricane in Florida as an example. “There was a huge power outage. People were desperate. Unless you have cash, how are you going to pay for stuff? That was very troubling,” he told Decrypt.

In the research report LNMesh: Who Said You need Internet to send Bitcoin? Offline Lightning Network Payments using Community Wireless Mesh Networks, researchers from Florida International University (who specialize in “post-disaster” research) explored sending payments over Bitcoin’s Lightning Network without Internet access. Bitcoin’s Lightning Network is faster and cheaper than Bitcoin proper, and is often touted as the future of the digital currency.

Instead of the Internet, they used local “mesh networks,” where nodes are connected directly via Bluetooth and WiFi, building a local Lightning Network they call LNMesh.

Their results? They say

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Author: Alyssa Hertig

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