Without knowing if miners are taking proper precautions in the face of cosmic threats, Bitcoin’s future remains uncertain. Bitshares’ stakeholder electorate has chosen a nuclear bunker to ensure all threats will never stop the Bitshares blockchain, making it the safest chain to keep your virtual currencies.

In an article titled “Bitcoin’s Cosmic Threat: Beware the Magnetic Field” published on Bitcoin News by risk management expert Julio Gil-Pulgar, there are numerous threats outlined which indicate that no matter how much hashing power is put into to the Bitcoin blockchain to secure it, a force of nature could cause the whole thing to go completely dark.

Throughout history the earth has experienced massive Electromagnetic Pulse events as a result of a combination of solar events and the shifting magnetic shield of the earth. As recently as 2012 we had a near miss solar event that could have shot society back to the 1800s, instantly rendering our power grid and all electronic devices useless.

In addition to this recent solar event, shifting magnetic poles means the earth’s protection from massive magnetic solar blasts could become compromised and also send us back a few hundred years instantly.

Julio Gil-Pulgar in his article states:

“Moreover, Earth’s magnetic pole reversals are occurring all the time. NASA warns us “Reversals are the rule, not the exception.” Therefore, we should hypothesize that these magnetic field disruptions could eventually disorient the magnetized bits that store our civilization’s data on computers and electronic devices all over the world. If so, let’s hope that miners and others safeguarding Bitcoin and its blockchain data implement preventive measures against these cosmic threats. For example, they could install strong magnetic shielding to protect data storage devices and ensure the implementation of effective data backups”

With such threats looming, even though we appear to be on the cusp of a blockchain renaissance promising a worldwide decentralized electronic monetary transfer system, it’s no wonder some people still love cash money.

While Bitcoin holders are hoping miners are taking such actions, through the power of Delegate Proof of Stake (DPOS) Bitshares stakeholders are taking no chances. Through stake based voting, every holder of Bitshares can vote for Witnesses that are trusted to maintain active nodes in the Bitshares network and ‘witness’ the production of blocks.

One such witness, “DataSecurityNode”, is operating its node from an underground 64,000 sq/ft nuclear bunker data center designed to handle the force of not just a nuclear blast, but also EMP effects which are orders of magnitude greater than any solar magnetic event.

While this is great news for the blockchain, end users who do not protect their private keys appropriately will never be able to access their funds unless they have kept their keys on a paper backup. Sadly, statistics show that 30% of people NEVER do a backup, and 39% of data loss is due to simple ‘accidents’.

Bitshares, with the recent introduction of Private Transactions, is about to introduce server side backups for it’s wallet providers. Although the current wallet has backup functions, this added level of protection is necessary to avoid the potential of losing your account.

A new wallet provider called Freedom Ledger, who has commissioned space within the same nuclear bunker, will be rolling out this new feature and will be providing private-key backup to its underground infrastructure. This will help users who are seeking both security and convenience, as they will be able to maintain a proper backup for their cryptographically secured BitShares wallets while also gaining protection against any unforeseen or catastrophic events.

Recently with the acceptance of the Bitshares blockchain to Microsoft Azure there has been a rally on the price. As new users discover the incredible functionality of its 3rd generation blockchain, many do not realize the threat looming over all cryptocurrencies as Julio Gil-Pulgar wrote about. Thanks to DPOS, Bitshares has been able to successfully achieve efficient consensus to ensure that even in such extreme circumstances, the blockchain remains safe. I can only imagine what the value of Bitshares will become if these threats come to pass and only Bitshares remains.

Jonathan Baha’i

A blockchain solutions expert who owns and operates a 64,000 nuclear bunker data center located in Nova Scotia Canada.