Data will always be the most valuable asset, with or without the Internet (TCP/IP makes it easy to move, but is not required).<p>Once the 2-way links are available, running your own node without meshing would likely be a requirement for retail shops, miners and investors that will help grow the footprint.<p>If they could code liquidity modes into wallets (ie. Spendable vs not spendable modes), they could possibly limit the losses during disruptions by having wallets that are in a non-spendable state stay safe from manipulation, while only the crypto in spendable state wallets that are in circulation being vulnerable to loss or fraud during catastrophic events.<p>I think something like that was proposed with one of the alt-coins a few years back.
In some countries I could see this being an issue, as the Internet can be shut down entirely for any number of political reasons.<p>In the US, if the Internet is out everywhere for an extended period of time, Bitcoin will be the least of anyone's worries.
this is a very interesting and good question.<p>for people that love decentralization... they sure are dependent on a centralized internet infrastructure.