Bitcoin Forum

Other => Beginners & Help => Topic started by: blacksmithtm on April 05, 2013, 12:03:56 PM



Title: get rid of the decimal?
Post by: blacksmithtm on April 05, 2013, 12:03:56 PM
hello

ive been very excited for bitcoin, and i finally got a hold of my first coins. but i do not enjoy handling them at all. the 8 decimal places thing really takes away from the feel of the currency. i was wondering what would happen if clients, wallets, etc. just stopped showing the decimal. so that you just had x units... right now i have 10.995 BTC. If the decimal was removed i would have 1,099,500,000 units. which i feel would be so much better. the exchanges could then come up with their denominations. for example on mtgox the standard could be 100,000,000 units each trade. I mean they would bundle 100,000,000 units together and track the price like that. they could call this bundle or unit the GOX DOLLAR or GOX COIN or whatever. It would just mean that the mtgox price reflects 100,000,000 units of bitcoin. As time goes by, if bitcoin gets any momentum, one BTC is probably gonna be worth thousands of dollars anyway and thus ineligable to be traded on the exchanges due to their cost, and the exchanges would have to come up with a new denomination then.


Title: Re: get rid of the decimal?
Post by: nobbynobbynoob on April 05, 2013, 12:11:07 PM
That whole number you refer to is the basic unit of accounting in the Bitcoin network and already has a name: satoshi, named after the legendary pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

I agree that clients should be able to display satoshi amounts as well as BTC, mBTC and µBTC.