Will Net Neutrality Impact the Future of Cryptocurrencies?

The recent repeal of Net Neutrality has made internet users go into a chaotic frenzy. Many people are worried about where the internet is going. Will internet service providers start slowing down internet speeds?

Will consumers have to pay more for access to the sites they have always been using? And will big corporations slowly take over the internet, forcing smaller businesses to shut down?

The answers to these questions aren't specific for now. However, what most people are wondering about is whether the repeal of Net Neutrality will negatively affect Cryptocurrencies.

The answer to this is much more accessible, and therefore the following is a rundown of how the loss of Net Neutrality will ultimately affect crypto.

What is Net Neutrality

Before we get into how the repeal will affect cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, it is essential to understand what Net Neutrality is.

Simply, the policy ensures that internet service providers (ISPs) can't slow down internet speeds to individual websites. In this way, the policy ensures that regardless if you're accessing a small website or an enormous video streaming service, that the speed of access is the same for both.

This ensures that the internet is open and equal for everyone. In addition to this, Net Neutrality ensures that ISPs can't block certain websites behind a paywall.

Without Net Neutrality, it is possible for ISPs to force consumers into purchasing "internet packages" that would then grant access to websites that people have already been enjoying before.

How Does Net Neutrality Affect Crytpo

The biggest concern traders have without Net Neutrality, is that ISPs could slow down speeds to cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

If this happens, it will definitely have a negative consequence upon the blockchain, forcing traders to be at the whims of their respective ISPs.

Also, without Net Neutrality, ISPs can make fast lanes to exchange platforms that they are invested in while slowing down competitor platforms.

There is also a possibility that ISPs can block exchange platforms behind a paywall, forcing traders to purchase an "internet package" to access certain cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

To avoid these negative effects, exchange platforms may have to pay up a premium to these internet service providers to ensure continued open access for traders. Or, in an even worse scenario, traders themselves may have to pay.

Finally, since cryptocurrency works on a peer-to-peer network (which is something that is not currently within the top priority services offered), ISPs can make the case that supporting these decentralized interactions cost too much.

This would all lead to a slow down of peer-to-peer, decentralized interactions and could make Bitcoin and other alternative coins to plummet.

What's Next?

It is uncertain right now whether blockchain and the encryption services attached to keeping crypto safe and secure will be affected. However, many people still don't want to wait around if disaster does strike.

To this end, many investors have begun investing in other coins such as Skycoin, which has invented its own mesh network internet called Skywire.

What makes this so great is that rather than investors having to rely on the infrastructure built up by existing ISPs, users can generate their own user operated infrastructure.

This method means that traders and users don't have to be at the whim of ISPs that could throttle and block access to sites. And with networks like Skywire, there is a possibility that the Net Neutrality repeal will be an obsolete issue shortly.

More and more of these independent style networks are being created in case ISPs do decide to take advantage of their new found power.

For example, the creators of Ethereum are also currently researching ways to make more effective nodes to provide unrestricted internet access to everyone.

Final Thoughts

The loss of Net Neutrality has been a tragedy for many people. And though its effects won't be visible immediately, we will see what happens within the upcoming years.

Of course, the recent boom in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have brought many people to start discussing both the future of the internet as well as the future of this new financial tool.

Though only time will tell if the repeal of Net Neutrality will kill crypto, many people aren't sitting around to wait for that.

Numerous traders and crypto experts have started their own currencies and programs in anticipation of if and when ISPs do decide to throttle access to exchange platforms.