This is The Block. From Kenya: “I make my money from bitcoin and tasty roast meat.“ Indeed, just like our cave ancestors.

I love stories like this. It tells me two things: Money will always be in the hands of individuals, and whatever requires less friction will be used over that which requires more friction. Africa is a great testing ground for new monetary theory, because parts of it are remote from city centers, or governments have failed to enact responsible monetary policy (hey just like the United States. Zing!). In these cases, individuals and businesses will migrate to whatever they can use that will provide them the quickest access to customers and profits.

What if there’s no internet, or connecting to the internet is made difficult or next-to-impossible, due to remoteness or poor infrastructure?

Glad you asked. It turns out, smart people have been working on this problem for a while. And the technology is getting there. One chap just made a Bitcoin transaction to a relay 12.6 kilometers away without access to the internet or a cell grid. Here’s a bit more on how he accomplished this trick.

Bitcoin’s not the only game in town either when it comes to connection-less currency. mCoin, a hybrid cryptocurrency, recently launched… in Africa.

I love this kind of stuff. It means we’re slowly moving away from dependencies that would impact the cryptocurrency sector in a catastrophic way if service were disrupted. And I’ve talked before about the dangers facing crypto should governments really start cracking down on usage (all in the name of national security, of course). Connection-less infrastructure would also be helpful in the case of a global EMP caused by massive sunspotting.

Sorry, I have to think big like that, I’m a screenwriter at heart.

Whether a potential disruption is intentional or an act of nature, it’s necessary to contemplate workarounds, because odds are we’re not dealing in questions of if, but when.