Blockchain's Decentralized Promise Hinges on Centralized Internet: Afghanistan's Lesson

Afghanistan's 48-hour internet blackout in September 2025 has reignited debates about the vulnerabilities of blockchain technology, which relies on centralized internet infrastructure. The outage, attributed by the Taliban to "technical issues" but widely seen as a political move to suppress dissent, left 43 million citizens disconnected from global networks. This event has exposed a critical flaw in decentralized blockchains: their inability to function during internet disruptions caused by government intervention or infrastructure failures. Michail Angelov, co-founder of decentralized WiFi platform Roam Network, called the blackout a "wake-up call," emphasizing that blockchain's promise of censorship-resistant value transfers is undermined when internet access itself is centralized.

The blackout's impact on daily life was profound. Businesses, banking systems, and humanitarian operations ground to a halt, with flight cancellations and disrupted supply chains exacerbating economic strain. For Afghan women and girls, the internet had become a lifeline for education and employment, particularly as the Taliban imposed bans on schooling and work for women. With online platforms now inaccessible, many lost their last avenues for income and connectivity.

In response to such vulnerabilities, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) have gained momentum. Projects like Roam Network and Helium are developing decentralized wireless networks to bypass centralized control. Roam's smartphone-powered system crowdsources signal data to create real-time connectivity maps, enabling users to switch to alternative networks during outages. Helium, the second-largest decentralized network, boasts 112,000 hotspots across 190 countries and 1.3 million daily users. World Mobile, the largest DePIN project, reported 2.3 million daily active users and $9.8 million in August revenue, distributed to operators and stakers.

Technical analyses of the blackout revealed how large-scale outages are executed through BGP withdrawals and backbone fiber cuts, severing domestic networks from the global internet. Such methods highlight the need for decentralized alternatives that eliminate single points of failure. DePIN's token-based incentives, which reward participants for contributing bandwidth or hardware, are seen as a scalable solution. For instance, Helium's HNT token rewards hotspot operators, while Srcful, a Swedish energy project, proposed expanding Helium's subnetwork to manage virtual power plants.

The economic and humanitarian costs of internet shutdowns are well-documented. NetBlocks estimates daily losses in the millions during similar outages, with prolonged disruptions exacerbating supply-chain issues and cyber risks. In Afghanistan, the blackout compounded challenges from a recent earthquake, hindering aid coordination and health services. Experts argue that decentralized infrastructure could mitigate such risks by enabling local, peer-to-peer connectivity even when centralized systems fail.

Despite progress, DePIN projects face hurdles. Token incentive models must balance growth with sustainability, and user adoption remains uneven. Platforms like NodeOps and Dbunker Network are addressing these challenges by lowering entry barriers for participants, offering affordable node deployment and GPU access. Aggregation protocols such as Parasail and PingPong further enhance scalability by optimizing resource allocation across networks.

The Afghan blackout underscores a broader trend: governments with centralized control over telecom infrastructure can swiftly impose internet restrictions. This reality has galvanized the DePIN sector, with projects like Helium Mobile demonstrating real-world viability. Helium's carrier offloading program, which transferred 576 TB of data in Q4 2024-a 555% increase-proves the potential for decentralized networks to rival traditional providers. As DePIN projects expand, their ability to provide resilient, censorship-resistant connectivity will be critical to realizing blockchain's full potential.

Source: [1] Cointelegraph (https://cointelegraph.com/news/afghanistan-internet-outage-blockchain-centralized-web)

[2] CyberSecureFox (https://cybersecurefox.com/en/afghanistan-internet-blackout-2025-technical-analysis/)

[4] The National Frontier (https://thenationalfrontier.com/2025/10/06/afghanistans-digital-blackout-erasing-a-nations-future/)

[7] Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/30/afghanistan-imposes-internet-blackout-what-has-the-effect-been-so-far)

[8] BeInCrypto (https://beincrypto.com/depin-news-helium-eyes-energy-sector-and-more/)

[9] DWF Labs (https://www.dwf-labs.com/research/depin-sector-overview-growth-challenges-and-the-road-ahead)

[10] Cryptopolitan (https://www.cryptopolitan.com/helium-network-q4-2024-report-depin/:~:text=The%20report%20curated%20by%20Messari%20provides%20valuable%20insights,project%E2%80%99s%20expansion%20in%20mobile%20and%20IoT%20network%20capabilities)