<span style="font-weight: 400">A team from Venezuela is working on a decentralized mesh network for offline bitcoin transactions. The system will implement radio waves and is a result of frequent electricity and internet outages recently plaguing the country. A member of the Bitcoin Venezuela organisation, as well as the team lead of the project, announced the name of the network as Locha Mesh. </span>
<h2>Turpial and Harpia</h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400">Locha Mesh is open source and will consist of two devices that will allow connection to the Bitcoin blockchain through long-range radio waves. The two devices are namely Turpial and Harpia. Harpia is radio module whose functionality will be made possible through the Raspberry or Arduino boards. On the other hand is the Turpial, a simple version radio transmitter for relaying data over long distances. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400">Turpial and Harpia are handheld portable devices that will operate on battery power. Furthermore, their functionality is limitless and beyond the Bitcoin blockchain. For instance, you could integrate the network to other blockchains. As well as use them for file transfer and messaging. </span>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">This is what we are doing at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LochaMesh?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LochaMesh</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/Locha_io?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Locha_io</a>) open-source software &amp; hardware, <a href="https://twitter.com/zndtoshi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@zndtoshi</a>

You’ll attach a Turpial device to your PC or your phone to listen &amp; transmit <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a> txs &amp; BTC blockchain data over a long-range radio mesh, also private chat<a href="https://t.co/uSp2IMOi6h">https://t.co/uSp2IMOi6h</a> <a href="https://t.co/TMUDDdfjRt">https://t.co/TMUDDdfjRt</a> <a href="https://t.co/xX4iLxEE4W">pic.twitter.com/xX4iLxEE4W</a></p>
— Randy Brito ⚡️ ? ? ? ? ₿ #Bitcoin #LochaMesh #BFVI (@randybrito) <a href="https://twitter.com/randybrito/status/1217777772514496512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2020</a></blockquote>

<h2>Radio Waves - Lasting Internet Alternative</h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400">The implementation of radio waves in Locha Mesh provides a realistic alternative to the internet. This tool will benefit the crypto community in nations where there if frequent protracted infrastructure shut down by authorities.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400">For example in Venezuela and Iran. Additionally, Brito said that the resistance to censorship is yet another aspect of the network. Brito was in a discussion with members of the Monero community. He said: </span>
<blockquote><i><span style="font-weight: 400">We are making something for the situations where you don't have Internet at all, either due to lack of infrastructure, targeted censorship or in case you want to be completed anonymous so you don't want to expose your home/phone IP address that is linked to your identity.”</span></i></blockquote>
<h2>Recreation of Mesh Compatible Transmitters</h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400">Besides selling its devices, Locha is hopeful that tech enthusiasts will be able to recreate mesh compatible transmitters. Meanwhile, the software will be open-source and accessible to all across borders. </span><span style="font-weight: 400">On the downside, however, Locha Mesh would still require internet access at some stage for connecting to <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/crypto/tesla-owners-can-now-transform-cars-into-bitcoin-nodes/">global cryptocurrency nodes</a>. Hence, the proposal revealed an underlying concern about whether the network could still function while completely offline. </span>

Venezuela Team Developing Decentralized Offline Network for Bitcoin Transactions

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Venezuela Team Developing Decentralized Offline Network for Bitcoin Transactions

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