I am questioning whether if we should be calling Bitcoins by their name...

[Anonymous]

When people hear "Bitcoin" they don't hear "gold", "money" nor "value". They associate it with tokens and mere low-value credits at first. It just doesn't scream wealth -- not yet at least. Wouldn't it be more reasonable to redo the clients with active real-time exchange rates and just have it all labeled in the world reserve currency; in this case the US dollar? The common layman would be able to go into Bitcoin with a mild attitude of "Oh, this is a cool payment processing system." rather than "A new currency? Is this legal? Hm."

I think we need to be oriented around the philosophies of transferring value and people's perception of value rather than trying to make everything radically different even from a first-person perspective.

People are scared by change. If you change something, prepare to make enemies. The best thing to do with huge paradigm shifts such as Bitcoin is to disguise it as the same old shit.

Let's consider denominating Bitcoins in US dollars.

[johnj]

Wouldn't it be more reasonable to redo the clients with active real-time exchange rates and just have it all labeled in the world reserve currency

No.

[Garrett Burgwardt]

Seriously? This is the kind of post I expect from someone fresh out of the Newbie section, not from Atlas.

[JohnnyCashout]

Wouldn't it be more reasonable to redo the clients with active real-time exchange rates and just have it all labeled in the world reserve currency; in this case the US dollar?

http://a2.twimg.com/profile_images/612473393/ralphno_bigger.jpg

[evoorhees]

Let's consider denominating Bitcoins in US dollars.

First I wanted to post: "let's not."

But then I figured I should write a more reasoned response =)  The reasoned response is, that your idea wouldn't work. It wouldn't work because if we removed the "bitcoin" denomination, and just referred to one's balance in USD, for example, then owners of this stuff would find the value of their wallet constantly changing. Open your wallet today and you have $1,130. Open it tomorrow and you have $990. Open it next week and now you're at $1,242. That doesn't make any sense... because it's essentially inferring that the amount of property one has is variable. Wealth fluctuates, sure, but units of property does not.

To make any sense of a balance which fluctuates in USD value, one needs a standard unit of account to measure it against. And voila, we call that Bitcoins. One's wallet reveals the same number of bitcoins today as tomorrow, and should the owner choose to do so he can easily find out how valuable those units are in terms of other commodities, be they USD, euros, or ounces of gold.

Your suggestion would be tremendously confusing and awkward... and wholly unnecessary. Bitcoins are a commodity. They deserve a name for their units and thus they can be tracked and traded accordingly.

[FreeMoney]

Another practical point is that there is not one exchange rate even to dollars, different places have different prices even in equilibrium because of the difficulty or ease of getting your money. Not to mention having the devs pick an exchange to tie the client to is ridiculous.

Now I'm sure at some point there will be an exchange that tells you the amount of whatever currency you could get for your coins and have a one click button to do it. Maybe there will even be a desktop program connected to an exchange that will tell you how much of their cash you could get for the bitcoins of yours that you are still holding at this second.

[netrin]

Wouldn't it be more reasonable a cool experiment to redo fork the clients with active real-time exchange rates and just like bicoincharts with have it all labeled in the world reserve currency; in this case the US dollar? The common layman would be able to go into Bitcoin with a mild attitude of "Oh, this is a cool payment processing system." rather than "A new currency? Is this legal? Hm."

That might be a cool alternate client. In fact, I'd love a desktop application that let me trade on numerous exchanges simultaneously, shifting bitcoins between each.

Bitcoin will die if it is marketed and perceived only as an open source credit card, Google Wallet, Pay Pal, transaction, paper cash competitor. Bitcoins are unique, revolutionary and valuable as they stand.

[julz]

When people hear "Bitcoin" they don't hear "gold", "money" nor "value". They associate it with tokens and mere low-value credits at first. It just doesn't scream wealth -- not yet at least. Wouldn't it be more reasonable to redo the clients with active real-time exchange rates and just have it all labeled in the world reserve currency; in this case the US dollar? The common layman would be able to go into Bitcoin with a mild attitude of "Oh, this is a cool payment processing system." rather than "A new currency? Is this legal? Hm."

I think we need to be oriented around the philosophies of transferring value and people's perception of value rather than trying to make everything radically different even from a first-person perspective.

People are scared by change. If you change something, prepare to make enemies. The best thing to do with huge paradigm shifts such as Bitcoin is to disguise it as the same old shit.

Let's consider denominating Bitcoins in US dollars.

WTT?  Go start up your little UnitedStatesCoin.  The US-centrism around here gets pretty tiresome sometimes.
Although it'd be a hiccup - the rest of the planet will use bitcoin even if the US bans it.

[PinkiePie]

I dunno, bitcoin is a pretty iconic word at this point with all the media coverage.  This kinda sounds like calling a My Little Pony "Mini Animal, Jr."

[Elwar]

I could see some future services that use Bitcoin in the background but call the service something completely different.

[cbeast]

I agree in spirit with the OP. I'm not crazy about the term bitcoin. It's so fiat-ish. I want a client that displays value in adverbs adjectives.

[julz]

I agree in spirit with the OP. I'm not crazy about the term bitcoin. It's so fiat-ish. I want a client that displays value in adverbs adjectives.

hmm.. let's try that..

The cost is a 'sneaky' 10  (This costs 10 'sneakys' ?)
You have a 'shadowy' 3.1
Pay an 'encrypted' 42 now.
You have earned a 'stupendous' 0.004
Here is your bonus 'nuggety'  10.10
Your 'treasurable' balance is 0.12

meh. I'm not feeling it.

[payb.tc]

i think 'bitcoin' is like 'google' in that it'll seem very valuable once people are more used to seeing valuable things associated with it.

imagine a very expensive car with personalized license plate that simply says [B-I-T-C-O-I-N]

(i priced one in Queensland, Australia and it's about $7000 at the moment - more than my old car is even worth)

anyway once that kind of thing becomes more prevalent, the word will gradually become more associated with high wealth.

[FreeMoney]

i think 'bitcoin' is like 'google' in that it'll seem very valuable once people are more used to seeing valuable things associated with it.

imagine a very expensive car with personalized license plate that simply says [B-I-T-C-O-I-N]

(i priced one in Queensland, Australia and it's about $7000 at the moment - more than my old car is even worth)

anyway once that kind of thing becomes more prevalent, the word will gradually become more associated with high wealth.

Lol, wut? A licence plate costs 7k?

[payb.tc]

i think 'bitcoin' is like 'google' in that it'll seem very valuable once people are more used to seeing valuable things associated with it.

imagine a very expensive car with personalized license plate that simply says [B-I-T-C-O-I-N]

(i priced one in Queensland, Australia and it's about $7000 at the moment - more than my old car is even worth)

anyway once that kind of thing becomes more prevalent, the word will gradually become more associated with high wealth.

Lol, wut? A licence plate costs 7k?

a personlised 7-character QLD plate does yes.

the standard plate here is 3 letters, 3 numbers, so the 7-character "choose your own combination" plates are limited offer and premium-priced.

www.ppq.com.au

by the way, if you care to look through 2nd-hand sales of premium license plates, some crazy rare ones like "A" can go for $100k+

[FreeMoney]

i think 'bitcoin' is like 'google' in that it'll seem very valuable once people are more used to seeing valuable things associated with it.

imagine a very expensive car with personalized license plate that simply says [B-I-T-C-O-I-N]

(i priced one in Queensland, Australia and it's about $7000 at the moment - more than my old car is even worth)

anyway once that kind of thing becomes more prevalent, the word will gradually become more associated with high wealth.

Lol, wut? A licence plate costs 7k?

a personlised 7-character QLD plate does yes.

the standard plate here is 3 letters, 3 numbers, so the 7-character "choose your own combination" plates are limited offer and premium-priced.

www.ppq.com.au

by the way, if you care to look through 2nd-hand sales of premium license plates, some crazy rare ones like "A" can go for $100k+

That is crazy. I think they are $50-$100 here, but you can't reuse them, at least not give to another person.

[Gabi]

When people hear "Bitcoin" they don't hear "gold", "money" nor "value". They associate it with tokens and mere low-value credits at first. It just doesn't scream wealth -- not yet at least. Wouldn't it be more reasonable to redo the clients with active real-time exchange rates and just have it all labeled in the world reserve currency; in this case the US dollar? The common layman would be able to go into Bitcoin with a mild attitude of "Oh, this is a cool payment processing system." rather than "A new currency? Is this legal? Hm."

I think we need to be oriented around the philosophies of transferring value and people's perception of value rather than trying to make everything radically different even from a first-person perspective.

People are scared by change. If you change something, prepare to make enemies. The best thing to do with huge paradigm shifts such as Bitcoin is to disguise it as the same old shit.

Let's consider denominating Bitcoins in US dollars.

Take your idiot us dollars and put them where they belong, why denominate it in US DOLLARS and not for example in euro?

Anyway, just no.

[payb.tc]

i think 'bitcoin' is like 'google' in that it'll seem very valuable once people are more used to seeing valuable things associated with it.

imagine a very expensive car with personalized license plate that simply says [B-I-T-C-O-I-N]

(i priced one in Queensland, Australia and it's about $7000 at the moment - more than my old car is even worth)

anyway once that kind of thing becomes more prevalent, the word will gradually become more associated with high wealth.

Lol, wut? A licence plate costs 7k?

a personlised 7-character QLD plate does yes.

the standard plate here is 3 letters, 3 numbers, so the 7-character "choose your own combination" plates are limited offer and premium-priced.

www.ppq.com.au

by the way, if you care to look through 2nd-hand sales of premium license plates, some crazy rare ones like "A" can go for $100k+

That is crazy. I think they are $50-$100 here, but you can't reuse them, at least not give to another person.

well yeah here they are pretty much like domain names... squatters and all.

and people buy and sell them all the time without even putting them on their cars.

check out this list of 'mediocre' ones for sale: http://www.aussieplates.com/listqld.html
...and these: http://www.mrplates.com.au/

[wumpus]

Let's consider denominating Bitcoins in US dollars.

No, let's denominate them in Euros.  Or Rupees.

Seriously, screw your Americocentric worldview.

Also a practical point: your balance would be changing all the time. One moment you have $10, the next you have $20, then $5, and so on You send someone $10, then when it arrives it's $9 or $11...

[ribuck]

License plates as the new physical currency FTW.