<p>Currently: yes, you pretty much need an Internet connection.</p>

<p>In the future: the relatively-new payment protocol <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0070.mediawiki" rel="nofollow">BIP70</a> can be combined with Bluetooth, near-field communications (NFC), or possibly large QR codes to allow a merchant to send their address to your mobile device and your mobile device to send back a signed payment.  Then the merchant will use their Internet connection to broadcast the payment.</p>

<p>There are a fair number of developers from organizations like BitPay currently working to make this as easy and seamless as possible, so you probably won't have to wait very long for beta-quality no-Internet-required in-store payment solutions.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T01:03:16.327Z
2014-11-17T13:48:51.793Z
2014-11-17T13:48:51.793Z
David A. Harding
<p>Say I walk into a store that accepts bitcoin. I decide to buy something and go to the counter. I get my smartphone out to pay the bitcoin. Does my smartphone need to have an internet connection to send the store my bitcoin?</p>

<payment><offline><point-of-sale>
Do you need to be connected to the internet to send someone bitcoin?
user28134
# Do you need to be connected to the internet to send someone bitcoin?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-11-17)

Say I walk into a store that accepts bitcoin. I decide to buy something and go to the counter. I get my smartphone out to pay the bitcoin. Does my smartphone need to have an internet connection to send the store my bitcoin?

**Tags:** payment, offline, point-of-sale


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-11-17. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Currently: yes, you pretty much need an Internet connection.

In the future: the relatively-new payment protocol [BIP70](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0070.mediawiki) can be combined with Bluetooth, near-field communications (NFC), or possibly large QR codes to allow a merchant to send their address to your mobile device and your mobile device to send back a signed payment. Then the merchant will use their Internet connection to broadcast the payment.

There are a fair number of developers from organizations like BitPay currently working to make this as easy and seamless as possible, so you probably won't have to wait very long for beta-quality no-Internet-required in-store payment solutions.


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