Is a bitcoin can be divided with more than 8 zeros or not??

[knight22]

I have read some topics that said yes to this answers and other not... So is it technically and easily possible to do that?

[1714804487]

1714804487

[1714804487]

1714804487

[kjj]

It would require a protocol change because the protocol operates on discrete units of 1/100000000 BTC, often known informally as a satoshi.  A protocol change is not easy, but if we ever get to the point where 1 protocol unit is a meaningful amount of value, it can be done.

[kokojie]

It can be done, and it's not easy. I don't think you need to worry about it for the next 10 years at least.

[SaltySpitoon]

"Is a bitcoin can be divided with more than 8 zeros or not??"

You can't divide by a single zero, so I don't know how you would divide by eight zeros.

[walruscode]

"Is a bitcoin can be divided with more than 8 zeros or not??"

You can't divide by a single zero, so I don't know how you would divide by eight zeros.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/jpwanabe/gifs/clap.gif

[scintill]

It can be done, and it's not easy. I don't think you need to worry about it for the next 10 years at least.

I lay awake at night, worrying that by the next day, Bitcoin prices will have gone beyond 10^8 USD and the divisibility limit will be a problem.

[cypherdoc]

"Is a bitcoin can be divided with more than 8 zeros or not??"

You can't divide by a single zero, so I don't know how you would divide by eight zeros.

isn't there a difference btwn the words with and by?

[Etlase2]

Yes let's make fun of someone for not speaking English as a first language. Hilarious.

[SaltySpitoon]

Yes let's make fun of someone for not speaking English as a first language. Hilarious.

If you say its not a tiny bit amusing, you are lying. There's a difference between poking a bit of fun at bad wording due to translation errors, etc, and being a jerk about it.

English isn't necessarily my first language either, kind of learned it at the same time as Portuguese (because of the area I was in) and I started learning Spanish/German when I was a very young as well.

[grondilu]

I have read some topics that said yes to this answers and other not... So is it technically and easily possible to do that?

Technically?  Yes.  Any computer can deal with a wide, arbitrary range of numerical values.

Easily?  Almost certainly not.  I'm not in the dev team, but if you look at the code you'll see that the "amount" field is coded with a fixed size integer, not a BigNum or something.  So I guess if we'd really have to divide bitcoins to more than 10^8, a lot of code rewrite would be required.

Also, consider that it would probably require some clear conditional test on the code somewhere:

Code:

if (blocknumber < BLOCK_NUMBER_AT_DIVISIBILITY_CHANGE) {
   // do as normal
   ;
} else {
   // use the new algorithm for increased divisibility
   ;
}

[Foxpup]

Technically?  Yes.  Any computer can deal with a wide, arbitrary range of numerical values.

Actually, no computer can, not even one with infinite memory, since an infinite amount of memory can only represent a countably infinite range of values, while the range of real numbers (not integers) is uncountably infinite. Fortunately, it is possible to infinitely divide an infinite range of integers without using non-integers for infinite future expansion (see Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel for details), so this isn't an issue for Bitcoin. Though it's a moot point anyway since no computer in a finite universe can possibly have an infinite amount of memory in the first place, so bitcoins won't really be "infinitely" divisible until we extend the protocol beyond the physical limitations of our universe (this will require a hard fork).

[scintill]

bitcoins won't really be "infinitely" divisible until we extend the protocol beyond the physical limitations of our universe (this will require a hard fork).

Just in case, I created an infinite_divisibility branch we can start working on.

[grondilu]

Actually, no computer can, not even one with infinite memory, since an infinite amount of memory can only represent a countably infinite range of values, while the range of real numbers (not integers) is uncountably infinite.

Yeah.  True.   But if you mention that, it's hard not to look like a smart ass, isn't it?

[acoindr]

The world won't ever need more than 8 decimal places IMO.

Right now U.S. dollars are the world's reserve currency, and there are trillions of them. But those are inflated dollars. That's 1,000,000,000,000 plus (1 followed by 12 zeros).

Have you ever heard people say candy bars used to cost a $0.05 or a gallon of gas $0.10? Now candy bars cost almost $1 and a gallon of gas about $4. That's about 2000% and 3000% inflation respectively.

If there was no inflation then the world's currency supply could be greatly reduced. Just 1 bitcoin could cover the same as $20 to $30 because bitcoins can't be inflated. That's the same as a world currency supply of about 50,000,000,000 dollars (50 billion dollars).

[ildubbioso]

The more time passes, the more that codebase grows, and
the harder it'll get. A very Y2K-ish type problem.

Yes, I tought it too. Why don't make it as soon as possible? I think everybody would accept this change.

[kokojie]

The world won't ever need more than 8 decimal places IMO.

Right now U.S. dollars are the world's reserve currency, and there are trillions of them. But those are inflated dollars. That's 1,000,000,000,000 plus (1 followed by 12 zeros).

Have you ever heard people say candy bars used to cost a $0.05 or a gallon of gas $0.10? Now candy bars cost almost $1 and a gallon of gas about $4. That's about 2000% and 3000% inflation respectively.

If there was no inflation then the world's currency supply could be greatly reduced. Just 1 bitcoin could cover the same as $20 to $30 because bitcoins can't be inflated. That's the same as a world currency supply of about 50,000,000,000 dollars (50 billion dollars).

Actually BTC most definitely will need more than 8 decimal places in the distant future, because certain amount of bitcoin gets destroyed per year due to various factors such as carelessness. it's just that the future is so distant, there's no point worrying about it now.

[acoindr]

The world won't ever need more than 8 decimal places IMO.

Right now U.S. dollars are the world's reserve currency, and there are trillions of them. But those are inflated dollars. That's 1,000,000,000,000 plus (1 followed by 12 zeros).

Have you ever heard people say candy bars used to cost a $0.05 or a gallon of gas $0.10? Now candy bars cost almost $1 and a gallon of gas about $4. That's about 2000% and 3000% inflation respectively.

If there was no inflation then the world's currency supply could be greatly reduced. Just 1 bitcoin could cover the same as $20 to $30 because bitcoins can't be inflated. That's the same as a world currency supply of about 50,000,000,000 dollars (50 billion dollars).

Actually BTC most definitely will need more than 8 decimal places in the distant future, because certain amount of bitcoin gets destroyed per year due to various factors such as carelessness. it's just that the future is so distant, there's no point worrying about it now.

Right now the market cap for bitcoins is about $90 million (about $10 times 9 million bitcoins in existence). What percentage of bitcoins do you think has been lost since 2009? What percentage of your bitcoin wealth do you lose carelessly yearly?

[knight22]

Right now the market cap for bitcoins is about $90 million (about $10 times 9 million bitcoins in existence). What percentage of bitcoins do you think has been lost since 2009? What percentage of your bitcoin wealth do you lose carelessly yearly?

Check this thread to give you an idea:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7253.0

[davidspitzer]

even if BTC end up being $2000 each eight decimal places is a very small fraction

[acoindr]

Right now the market cap for bitcoins is about $90 million (about $10 times 9 million bitcoins in existence). What percentage of bitcoins do you think has been lost since 2009? What percentage of your bitcoin wealth do you lose carelessly yearly?

Check this thread to give you an idea:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7253.0

The highest total lost bitcoins I see in that (unofficial) thread is the last post at about 73K BTC.

73,000 is .81% of 9,000,000 - the approximate number of bitcoins now in existence.

What's your point? You don't think a currency could work losing less than one percent of its total every 3 years?

It would take over 300 years to completely deplete it at that rate.

And keep in mind those reported losses are as people get used to dealing with this new currency.