Wiping all copies of the blockchain is impossible but i haven't heard of a bank losing their database either...

Hmm, no hard copies of the bitcoin blockchain?

It's just not possible. As long as there's a single copy of the blockchain anywhere, on any hard drive in the world, the network will rebuild itself, even if every other node had been destroyed. It may seem unsettling, but there is actually nothing that can stop it, short of 'turning off the internet', which is of course impossible, since the internet itself was designed to reconfigure itself in the face of any disruption.

Bitcoin must prevail, its code does not permit any other outcome.

Nothing is stopping you from printing it out.  It would be a huge waste of paper and be out of date as soon as you stopped printing.

There are thousands of copies of the blockchain distributed all over the planet.  If that is not good enough for you then please print out a copy.  Be sure to report back here how many pages it turns out to be.  Thanks!

There is no EMP that is powerful enough to wipe out the entire planet all at once. For all you know, the blockchain is also on the International Space Station or the moon. And some submarines might have copies too, they are underwater and shielded.

I agree there is no EMP big enough to take out the whole world but its interesting that few people realize the HUGE EMP that can be created blowing up a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere.

"in July 1962 the Starfish Prime test damaged electronics in Honolulu and New Zealand (approximately 1,300 kilometers away), fused 300 street lights on Oahu (Hawaii), set off about 100 burglar alarms, and caused the failure of a microwave repeating station on Kauai, which cut off the sturdy telephone system from the other Hawaiian islands."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_nuclear_explosion

Granted still not enough to take out the world but really interesting if you think of the economic shutdown effect this would have on a small countries economy. Which is why I am unsure why the US has never used an EMP in general (not just the nuke generated kind) to cripple a enemy nations economy, and then swoop in and complete a mission while the communications and infrastructure is down.

If all the other copies are lost (by EMP, supernova, etc.) who's going to type it in to a computer, even if you're able to cart your singed copy of the paper blockchain across the apocalyptic wasteland to find a PC?

You'd likely have far bigger worries than your BTC balance.

No. Nothing can kill it unless every last copy of the blockchain, everywhere in the world is destroyed. If that ever happens, bitcoin will be the least of anyone's worries.

As long as the internet exists and there is one copy of the blockchain left, the bitcoin network will rebuild itself. It's not going anywhere.