Bitcoin Forum

Reasons for your consideration:

• The primary current meaning of the tilde is "approximately equal to", which is analogous to the definition of money.
• The squiggly line of the tilde is similar to the vertical or horizontal bar common to currency symbols, but more ethereal to represent a digital transaction.
• The tilde is easily accessible on any keyboard.  I'm writing this on my phone.
• The tilde is easy to draw by hand.

Problem with your proposal: The possible interpretation is too broad. Nobody knows which currency you mean when using "~". This means you could use "~" when describing any (abstract) form of money, but not a specific currency.

That said, I also think that "BTC" and the "B-with-legs"-symbol are already too widespread to be abolished as currency descriptors of Bitcoin.

ya.ya.yo!

That is a problem common to any new symbol/entity relationship.  If it were to be used consistently, I think the tilde could come to be recognized as meaning bits or bitcoin.

I don't know, I have become so used to dealing with tons of zeroes that for me is not a problem anymore to work only in terms of BTC. I understand this can be a pain in the ass for noobs tho.

I support Ƀ (http://bitcoinsymbol.org).

The tilde seems like a vague symbol for me. What's wrong with a symbol that includes the letter B?

Nothing, except that these symbols aren't readily available on a keyboard.  The tilde is accessible on any keyboard, even phone right now.

So is the exclamation mark ( ! ), but why would you choose one over another? If anything, a plain B (which also it's found at least in all Latin keyboards) should be used.

Also, regarding “approximately equal”, I don't want to spend “approx. 20.99”, but rather “exactly 20.99”.

I'm kind of reserved when using the tilde (~) symbol. There are certain people who refer to the use of ~ when it comes to expressing approximation so probably there might be confusion here. Anyway, since I can see $ on my laptop keyboard, on my android phone, the euro and pound symbol is also there, so probably if btc somehow managed to reached mainstream adoption we ought to find the BTC becoming a standard symbol.

Using special characters might be insecure because they are often used in computer programming languages.

In the C++ programming language ~ is the destructor. It gets called when you destroy (reaching end of scope, or calling delete to a pointer to) the instance of the object. Even worse, it's also called bitwise negation (complement), as in the following contexts/examples:

int a = ~100;
int b = ~a;

Output:

-101
100

Hackers would love it if ~ stood for Bitcoin.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5343437/meaning-of-tilde-symbol-in-c

I didn't mean for the definition to be taken literally.  I'm just saying the concept of "approximately equal to" already associated with the tilde would make for an easy transition into thinking of the tilde as a currency symbol.  The tilde means "approximately equal" when it is between two entities like this: a~b.  I think it could take on its own meaning as a currency symbol if it just trails a number like this: 20.99~.

Interesting, thanks for the insightful feedback.  I must admit I don't entirely understand what you are saying, but I get that the tilde could cause problems since it is used in programming languages.

At certain point none of these symbols were available on a keyboard. I still don't have an Euro symbol € on my keybard, and as you can see I can use it quite well by typing 0128 while pressing ALT. If Bitcoin will be known enough symbol for it will be there when you will need it, for now it is too early. As even wider known currency symbols are not incorporated...

Bad idea, the ~ already has several other meanings in various contexts.

I'd say BTC whenever possible. Which is most of the time, including all websites: FontAwesome (http://fontawesome.io/icon/btc/) allows you to very easily use the BTC symbol as text anywhere.

Otherwise, ฿ is just fine. Confusion with Thai Baht is a total non-issue. Just like $ is used for Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong, Namibia, Belize, American, Suriname, or Taiwanese Dollars, yet nobody cares.

Keyboard? I currently live in the UK and there is no £ symbol on my keyboard. I know plenty of Europeans who have no € on their keyboard, and even ones that do yet still don't know how to type it (they just menu options in their word editors > insert special symbol, etc).

And otherwise there's also "BTC".

Easy transition? I just don't see it how to jump from these meanings:

Approximation => ???? => Currency

What is the relationship?

I am one of these people. I use the tilde character when I am expressing an approximation of a number.

I think a "B" (or the B with a line through it when this symbol is available) or "BTC" is just fine for expressing bitcoin.

I understand your desire to create a symbol for bits though. And I agree that would be nice. But may just come down to another short series of characters like "BTC"

Yeah exactly, the tilde already has a well known meaning.
Repurposing it for Bitcoin would be potentially more confusing than Bitcoin itself.

Or ƀ which is a regular unicode symbol (U+0180) and nicely fits with the common cent symbol ¢ for fiat.

I say BTC or ฿ for BTC, and ƀ for bits (millionth of a BTC). Several wallets, including breadwallet (the best and most popular wallet on iOS) already use this.

How about △? The pyramid symbol (U+25B3).  :)

You have to think that people would need to manually type the whole thing to get the symbol. A symbol that is inmediate in universal keyboards is better than some weird one. Or lets just call it uBTC.

Delta? It's not Ditcoin.

I also use tilde for approximation, and would find the use of it for an exact currency value confusing/offsetting based on that.

Why not creating a custom symbol? we created the custom BTC symbol anyway.

Agreed. We already have several good symbols and if you can't use them just write 'bits' or 'btc'.

I prefer BTC with 2 lines horizontal or vertical to a B anytime over ~,~ looks and and can be used way to generally, as far as typing BTC it on a keyboard is concerned it can always be used from an editor, uploaded or simply copy and pasted

Agree, too much possible interpretation. 10B would be better than 10~ : P

Bitcoin needs a brand, an unique simbolism, that symbol is really ambiguous and it can lead to confuse people and to make people doesn't know what you are talking about
I think this: BTC will be the definite symbol