Serious question: what happens when nobody wants their HW assets to verify the blockchain? What happens when the infrastructure falls apart or the demands on the blockchain verification outpaces the number of machines available to verify? Can you buy/sell btc off of the internet? Why would we want a future with digital assets that are inherently relying upon things that can fall apart with an EMP (not trying to be a doomsayer/fearmonger)?
It was have to be a global catastrophe, and at that point there's honestly probably more important things to worry about. Nevertheless, the blockchain can be rebooted from a checkpoint. This hasn't been done before but there's no doubt it's doable and I'm sure a somebody will put forth a proposal in the coming years for this.
