Official Bitcoin Unicode Character?

[rooofl]

You guys are talking about a detail in the whole (and messy) Bitcoin graphic identity. This detail must be chosen by following a real design process, I don't mean by a single designer, but certainly not on a forum post.
In my opinion, Bitcoin has a real identity problem and it must be solved quickly by professionals.

Bitcoin is not an organization. Bitcoin is a technology. Saying Bitcoin has a real identity problem is akin to saying the Internet has a real identity problem.

I am saying that as a Bitcoin noob, maybe design can help to make things clever and more accessible.

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[ryepdx]

I am saying that as a Bitcoin noob, maybe design can help to make things clever and more accessible.

You're absolutely right. The guys over at weusecoins.com have started off in the right direction. The need for a "killer app" has been discussed at length here, with terms like "kitten activism" and "Jessica Simpson stupid" often getting trotted out. It all boils down to making well-designed services built on the Bitcoin Network.

I "falcon punched" you on a technicality, which wasn't very nice of me, but I did it to make a point: the bitcoin ecosystem is not monolithic. It's not designed to be. Bitcoins are meant to be the topsoil on which the seeds of our geniuses are nourished, no more than that. The foliage is up to us. If you want to change something, go make it happen. :-)

[epii]

I "falcon punched" you on a technicality, which wasn't very nice of me, but I did it to make a point: the bitcoin ecosystem is not monolithic. It's not designed to be. Bitcoins are meant to be the topsoil on which the seeds of our geniuses are nourished, no more than that. The foliage is up to us. If you want to change something, go make it happen. :-)

That being said, one thing we could "change" is to make the Bitcoin ecosystem just a little bit more "monolithic".  A Bitcoin Organization is obviously not strictly necessary, and would have no authority beyond its good name, but likewise there is no authority stopping such an organization from being formed.  I agree with rooofl insofar as I think that Bitcoin's most prolific users, developers and contributors could benefit from being a little bit less anarchistic - organize, vote on leaders and proposals, make press releases, and assert some of the authority that comes with their experience.  If anyone wants to reject that authority, they are more than free to compete with it.  But there is nothing philosophically contradictory (in my opinion) or logistically preventable about the formation of a dominant "Bitcoin Organization".

[AbeSkray]

Okay, I just finished reading all 10 pages of this discussion. It seems to me we are divided into two camps:

1. Those who want a symbol we can start using right away.
2. Those who want a unique symbol that we won't really be able to use online until we manage to get a character into the unicode set (which could be a few years considering it took the Thai government about a year of lobbying to get their country's currency symbol into that set, a task easier than the one we would face as a mere confederacy of nerds.)

I think we ought to decide which approach would be better for us as a community.

I am in the second camp. To me, Bitcoin is a new and exciting idea. It's original, so it should have an original symbol that represents it uniquely. It also has potential to become a universal currency that transcends political boundaries, so I really think it should not co-opt an existing currency's symbol.

I agree that it could take a long time before Bitcoin is big enough to be represented with its own Unicode character, but I don't think that's a problem we need to worry about at this stage. If Bitcoin is truly a worthwhile and meaningful idea destined for mass recognition, Unicode adoption will eventually follow. Worrying about Unicode representation beforehand is, I think, putting the cart before the horse. Until then, "BTC" is perfectly understandable in the digital realm.

That said, I really like the b'at:

[ryepdx]

But there is nothing philosophically contradictory (in my opinion) or logistically preventable about the formation of a dominant "Bitcoin Organization".

Absolutely correct. In fact, I think that the emergence of a dominant "Bitcoin Organization" is inevitable, given enough time. There's always a Google or an IBM or a Microsoft waiting to be made.

[fetokun]

I've seen a lot of websites already using the ฿
It seems that this matter is decided, at least for now

[em3rgentOrdr]

I've seen a lot of websites already using the ฿
It seems that this matter is decided, at least for now

Wrong.

[fetokun]

I've seen a lot of websites already using the ฿
It seems that this matter is decided, at least for now

Wrong.

Tell it to these guys:

https://en.bitcoin.it/
http://freebitcoins.appspot.com/
https://www.kalyhost.com/?Currency=BTC
https://www.autovps.net/?Currency=BTC

and many others

[bittersweet]

I don't like that ฿ sign and fortunatelly noone has to use it just because some people do
฿TC looks weird, it's like U$D

[epii]

฿TC looks weird, it's like U$D

Agreed!

[Hasimir]

Having just read through this entire thread I can see that there are some very good arguments for a number of the candidates.  Personally I think that the symbol ought to be an existing UTF-8 symbol so that it can be readily used on most systems or browsers and not require additional fonts to be installed.

I like the ฿ symbol because it is very clear and easy to read, but the arguments against deliberately choosing the symbol of another currency are reasonable (even if that has already been done with $ and ¥).

Of the other already proposed unicode characters I'd then look at Ⓑ.  I think ⓑ is a little too difficult to read in most standard font sizes (10pt or 12pt).

I have, however, considered a couple of other characters.  I looked for characters which were reminiscent of combining a 1 and a 0, since they're what make a bit.  An obvious candidate would be Ø (U+00d8), except that could easily be mistaken for a zero in some fonts.  The other one, which I am a little more in favour of is ɸ (U+0278).

A double stroked B (with or without a circle) would be great, but such a beast is not available in UTF-8 and there's no real point in picking a symbol that may never be able to be added (and if it is wouldn't be for several years).  The copyleft symbol still hasn't been added to unicode and it has far more people pushing for it.  I think that getting creative with the logo is a great way to push Bitcoin, but a recognised symbol should be able to be used straight away in order to push adoption of the currency.

[TiagoTiago]

What percentage of webbrowsers used today still can't handle webfonts?

[Hasimir]

What percentage of webbrowsers used today still can't handle webfonts?

If you only care about "first world" users, then assuming that everyone has a system made in the last seven years is fine.  If you want to spread this far and wide, don't make that assumption.

[rooofl]

What percentage of webbrowsers used today still can't handle webfonts?

If you only care about "first world" users, then assuming that everyone has a system made in the last seven years is fine.  If you want to spread this far and wide, don't make that assumption.

That's true. And we also must think about an offline use of a bitcoin character. Do you remember paper ? ^^
There is not @fontface anymore whithout a connexion, but BTC don't always need a connexion as far as I understood.

[bgeron]

What about one of these?

https://i.imgur.com/Iz4Wu.png

https://i.imgur.com/d3Aqk.png

I prefer the first.

Small examples:

https://i.imgur.com/Qip7P.png 3.45

https://i.imgur.com/FamYJ.png 3.45

[ryepdx]

Jus' sayin'...

[Hasimir]

That's true. And we also must think about an offline use of a bitcoin character. Do you remember paper ? ^^

Good point.  It's important to allow aspiring economics students to be able to include the relevant character in a thesis.  This means it needs to be available to word processors and editors.  It needs to be reproduced in both e-books and hard copy.

[ryepdx]

That's true. And we also must think about an offline use of a bitcoin character. Do you remember paper ? ^^

Good point.  It's important to allow aspiring economics students to be able to include the relevant character in a thesis.  This means it needs to be available to word processors and editors.  It needs to be reproduced in both e-books and hard copy.

+1

It's sounding like a straight-up unicode character would be the best, these things considered. Although an image would work as well, since most word processors and editors allow image embedding. Still, that would be a pain.

Given the choices, I think I'm just going to type "BTC" when I want to indicate bitcoins.

[btcLottery]

All this over which "B" symbol to use?  My thought would be to go with something unique, something unused in currency, and lying outside currency symbology:

∆

∆2.33

And the delta symbol relates to the letter "d" - as in Digital...

Of course, the Triforce would be sick, but might not show up well in smaller sizes and obviously does not live in unicode.

Whatcha think?

[TiagoTiago]

lol, having the  triforce as symbol would be fun