Afghanistan has just experienced a nationwide Internet outage lasting 48 hours, exposing the vulnerabilities of decentralized blockchains: dependence on centralized network providers, making them easy to control and disrupt. According to Reuters, the Taliban is alleged to have ordered the network shutdown but later cited “technical issues” with the fiber optic cables. Approximately 13 million people were affected, marking the first nationwide network shutdown under Taliban rule.
This incident has prompted the tech community to call for the development of decentralized Internet infrastructure (DePIN) to reduce control risks. Projects like Roam, World Mobile, and Helium are building decentralized wireless networks, enabling users to automatically select the best connection even when traditional networks fail.
According to Roam Network co-founder Michail Angelov, “if decentralization only stops at the protocol layer, then we have not truly solved the problem — we have only changed the locus of control.”
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