Campaign for XBT. A new ISO Currency Code is required for Bitcoin

[solex]

Bitcoin adoption is achieving a critical mass for exponential growth. To maintain this growth Bitcoin needs to be supported on the world's FX systems and seen on data-feeds such as Bloomberg and Reuters.

All the world's currencies have 3-letter ISO standard codes which are used to identify them in computer systems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217

The first two letters must match the ISO standard country code .e.g. USx codes are reserved for the United States, hence the dollar is known as USD on all FX systems.
BTC is not available as it is reserved for the country of Bhutan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2

Transnational or world currencies begin with an X, for example XAU (gold) and XAG (silver)
XBC has been taken by the European central bank, which leaves only XBT as the most suitable ISO code for Bitcoin.

Below is the institution which needs to be lobbied to assign Bitcoin its currency code:

ISO 4217:2008
Codes for the representation of currencies and funds

Maintenance Agency

c/o SIX Interbank Clearing Ltd (acting on behalf of the Swiss Associa tion for Standardization)
P.O. Box
Hardturmstrasse 201
8021 Zurich
Switzerland

Tel:  +41 58 399 4255
Fax: +41 58 499 4550
E-mail: office@currency-iso.org
Web: http://www.currency-iso.org

The Bloomberg screen used by tens of thousands of people who continually buy and sell the major currencies...



Let's see Bitcoin elbow its way onto this screen!

[1715184560]

1715184560

[potato5491]

Sounds reasonable to me. Would this be easier as a poll maybe?

[MrVivaldi]

I feel XTC is appropriate because that is how I feel when I buy my BTC.

[solex]

Sounds reasonable to me. Would this be easier as a poll maybe?

I'll make a note of other suggested codes and kick off a poll based upon feedback to the idea...
The standards body will have their own view on this as it should be a recognizable abbreviation..

[Raoul Duke]

Should be XBC

[justusranvier]

How about we just use BTC until it's so commonly accepted that ISO just follows along?

[foo]

How about we just use BTC until it's so commonly accepted that ISO just follows along?

+1

[playtin]

How about we just use BTC until it's so commonly accepted that ISO just follows along?

Isn't this what is going to happen anyway?

[Nemesis]

How about we just use BTC until it's so commonly accepted that ISO just follows along?

Isn't this what is going to happen anyway?

let the market decide.

Thats the point kid

[btcusr]

XIO ("ex eye oh") / XOI

may be even, X10 ("ex ten") / X01

numeric are non standard in currency symbols?
but it is ok for BTC, after all it is all ones and zeros. 

[joecooin]

XAA

X = international.
The first A reminds of the precious metals like properties of Bitcoin.
The second A brings it on top of the list of international currencies / pm, where it belongs.

Joe

[BkkCoins]

I've been going with XBC but someone recently pointed out that EUR is used for the Euro and it's not a country either so it should be possible for ISO to accept BTC as standard symbol for Bitcoin on the same basis. Using BTC would be optimal but after that I kind of lean towards XTC as an homage to the drug trade.

[solex]

I've been going with XBC but someone recently pointed out that EUR is used for the Euro and it's not a country either so it should be possible for ISO to accept BTC as standard symbol for Bitcoin on the same basis. Using BTC would be optimal but after that I kind of lean towards XTC as an homage to the drug trade.

I like XTC too. Very clever  

The currency EUR does conform to the ISO country standards as "EU" has been reserved for the European Union, of which the euro is meant to be used by all member countries, even though, so far, half have transitioned to it.

I have experience dealing with standards authorities directly, and I know how they think, and they will never accept BTC as an official code because it would break their own standards to do so. However, BTC is fine for unofficial public use, just as US$ and CA$ are commonly seen. But these codes are not found in any significant financial/FX system.  It is theoretically possible to get XBC, but that is an uphill battle as there are many computer systems with bond transactions denominated already in XBC, and confusion would occur if it was re-assigned.

There is one thing that markets are bad at, and that is defining standards. Standards underpin successful markets, just as mathematics underpins physics. Having standards makes markets work efficiently as everyone is exchanging fairly, price discovery works best.

An ISO currency code for Bitcoin will greatly help cement its future as a rival for fiat.

[Sukrim]

See https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=127604.0 as an alternative to SIX interbank (good luck in getting them to even read your mails).

Yes, ideally XBT gets included, but you might as well lobby in Bhutan to inquire at SIX for using the symbol BTC for Bitcoins.

[Come-from-Beyond]

Should be XBC

Nay. Should be XXX.

[Sukrim]

Should be XBC

Nay. Should be XXX.

XXX is already defined in the ISO list.

[solex]

Yes, ideally XBT gets included, but you might as well lobby in Bhutan to inquire at SIX for using the symbol BTC for Bitcoins.

Now that IS a good idea!

[k]

How about X01? (01 for bits)

[Bowjob]

Let's get rid of Bhutan.. and take BTC as the ISO standard.

[Sukrim]

XVB (X Virtual Bitcoin) would also maybe fit, though the "X currencies" seem to rather have 2 letters for the currency identifier (e.g. "XAU" - X AUrum/gold) than one ("XMG" - X Metal Gold).

There are no other currency codes with numbers, so X01 or X10 are probably out of question. XBT or something along these lines probably are the best shot... Ripple was smarter and started to market their currency as XRP from the beginning.