Bitcoin Units Proposal

[lyth0s]

When we speak about 1 bitcoin costing $560 dollars many people are immediately turned away from the idea of investing in it simply due to "I have to pay 560 bucks just to own 1!!! wow I can't afford that" type of scenario. To attract more investors I propose that when we speak about bitcoins or when we put a price tag on goods/services that we talk about milibits (0.001 bitcoins). Each milibit right now would currently be worth $0.56 (56 cents) and thus people could buy into bitcoin and own 170+ milibits for $100. On the flip side people don't want to spend $100 on 0.17 bitcoins (talking to the general population I've even come to find that people didn't even know that a person could own fractions of a bitcoin).

I know it's just a psychological game, but I think it has some merit when it comes to the general public.

I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks about the topic. Feel free to leave comments/suggestions below

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[thezerg]

 I completely agree and many do/did speak in mbtc.  it has been discussed many times.  I think we should do a "stock split" by just calling btc what is today 1/1000 of a coin.  because 21 million is too small for a worldwide currency and perception is important.   nobody is the proud owner of .002 coin.

[coinpharmer]

it will happen in time. just like we list car prices (generally) in thousands, coffee in dollars, airplanes in millions, and government budgets in billions, so too will we get used to using the correct bitcoin terms. but really we need long terms of stability to find out what these will be.

[lyth0s]

Well the only way the change from discussing full bitcoins to mbtc will happen is if we as a community start using mbtc instead of simply full bitcoins

[exponential]

I think this is a great idea but not necessarily using, "Milibit" or other, "Techie" sounding names.  I think there is a chance the general population could be turned off by names sounding like that.  If we had a different name for 1/10 or 1/100 or whatever was decided that did not sound like it was a denomination of a coin and rather just its own unit I think it would be helpful.  If for example 1/100 of a coin was the norm then we could refer to as a, Tango, then it would sound nicer and more inviting than a Milibit. 

Sorry if this is a bit difficult to understand but I think this would play a role in wider acceptance of Bitcoin.  Although denomination labeling seems like a trivial issue I really believe it will play a big role in peoples first impressions of Bitcoins.  I think staying with names like, "Mili" will make people associate it with the techie world and still be a bit intimidated. 

[harrymmmm]

People didn't mind 'cent'. What's wrong with 'millie'? Kinda cute actually. 

[Coins4life]

I completely agree and many do/did speak in mbtc.  it has been discussed many times.  I think we should do a "stock split" by just calling btc what is today 1/1000 of a coin.  because 21 million is too small for a worldwide currency and perception is important.   nobody is the proud owner of .002 coin.

+1

[spazzdla]

I completely agree and many do/did speak in mbtc.  it has been discussed many times.  I think we should do a "stock split" by just calling btc what is today 1/1000 of a coin.  because 21 million is too small for a worldwide currency and perception is important.   nobody is the proud owner of .002 coin.

This.. if we can get the mass media to start calling it mBTC and saying it's only .60 for an mBTC.  A few of my friends don't want to buy because they don't want to own a fraction of something...

[BitOnyx]

there are other units out there right now. Mbtc are best example, there might be even more right now. Everyone know you don't need to buy 1 btc, you can easily get even 0,0005 ....

[awesomeami]

bitcoinity.org already (Nov? 2013) made mBTC as default
Need like bitcoin-qt & bitstamp to do that (by default - with optional BTC).
And better for "bigger number" currencies like CNY/JPN - paying "thousands" for 1 BTC.

Many threads about that - but ignored by exchanges, tickers (except bitcoinity), developers ...

[CryptoKilla]

I completely agree and many do/did speak in mbtc.  it has been discussed many times.  I think we should do a "stock split" by just calling btc what is today 1/1000 of a coin.  because 21 million is too small for a worldwide currency and perception is important.   nobody is the proud owner of .002 coin.

This

[havanabob]

that's a good idea to use word 'millie' about 1\1000 bitcoins. I also mentioned that when you tell people that you own 0.035 bitcoin they yhink it's nothing cause it is close to '0' and if it is  close to '0' our subconscious thinks that's it is nothing!

[KrakenB]

People who don't understand this simple concept shouldn't be speculating on Bitcoin anyway.

Their ignorance acts as a great natural barrier in this case.

Don't lure the gullible. It's immoral and counterproductive in the long-term.

[thezerg]

People who don't understand this simple concept shouldn't be speculating on Bitcoin anyway.

Their ignorance acts as a great natural barrier in this case.

Don't lure the gullible. It's immoral and counterproductive in the long-term.

dont be silly.  stock splits are par for the course.  you want to push an agenda that nothing else in the world follows do it with something else.  its just easier for people to think of 25635 when buying a car than it is for them to think of .000025831 to buy a pencil.

im sure there machinery in media outlets to handle this because it happens with stocks all the time.  we would just need to pick a date and get major exchanges and charting sites onboard.

[KrakenB]

People who don't understand this simple concept shouldn't be speculating on Bitcoin anyway.

Their ignorance acts as a great natural barrier in this case.

Don't lure the gullible. It's immoral and counterproductive in the long-term.

dont be silly.  stock splits are par for the course.  you want to push an agenda that nothing else in the world follows do it with something else.  its just easier for people to think of 25635 when buying a car than it is for them to think of .000025831 to buy a pencil.

im sure there machinery in media outlets to handle this because it happens with stocks all the time.  we would just need to pick a date and get major exchanges and charting sites onboard.

Not being silly. Stock splits are only rationally justified when the price becomes too high for individual investors. The other reasons are merely psychological, as is the proposal of OP. He implicitly admits he wants to lure the gullible who have no clue what they're doing.

If you don't care about the moral barrier, fine. But don't act like it's the right thing to do. These things will hurt Bitcoin in the long run BTW.

[cbeast]

Block splits. 

[teukon]

People who don't understand this simple concept shouldn't be speculating on Bitcoin anyway.

Their ignorance acts as a great natural barrier in this case.

Don't lure the gullible. It's immoral and counterproductive in the long-term.

+1

Trying to boost adoption in this way is unfair and unhelpful.  Besides, Bitcoin has plenty of users these days.  If anything, we should be warning people about Bitcoin's dangers.

[thezerg]

People who don't understand this simple concept shouldn't be speculating on Bitcoin anyway.

Their ignorance acts as a great natural barrier in this case.

Don't lure the gullible. It's immoral and counterproductive in the long-term.

dont be silly.  stock splits are par for the course.  you want to push an agenda that nothing else in the world follows do it with something else.  its just easier for people to think of 25635 when buying a car than it is for them to think of .000025831 to buy a pencil.

im sure there machinery in media outlets to handle this because it happens with stocks all the time.  we would just need to pick a date and get major exchanges and charting sites onboard.

Not being silly. Stock splits are only rationally justified when the price becomes too high for individual investors. The other reasons are merely psychological, as is the proposal of OP. He implicitly admits he wants to lure the gullible who have no clue what they're doing.

If you don't care about the moral barrier, fine. But don't act like it's the right thing to do. These things will hurt Bitcoin in the long run BTW.

stocks like to trade between 10 and 100.  in no way is that too expensive because you can buy just 1 even though investors like to buy in blocks of 100.  I care about moral barriers but this one does not exist.  you should realize this too unless you think all brand name recognition and goodwill advertising is morally corrupt and ads should be dry feature recitals.  and a million other aspects of today's world like wearing a suit to an interview and combing hair.  that is -- presenting the thing in a manner more compatible with the consumer.

its not like we would hide it.  in fact we would announce it as far and wide as possible.  And clueless grannies have plenty of other barriers.

you should consider the "moral hazard" of attempting to protect people from every imagined danger.

[Taras]

 Maybe even micro bits would be better. For now, Millibits make most sense

[DeathAndTaxes]

dont be silly.  stock splits are par for the course. 

Yeah maybe in 1990.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=GOOG
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AAPL
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=IBM
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=BRK-A

[ZephramC]

People who don't understand this simple concept shouldn't be speculating on Bitcoin anyway.

Their ignorance acts as a great natural barrier in this case.

Don't lure the gullible. It's immoral and counterproductive in the long-term.

This. People should do the math or at least know that bitcoins are very well divisible.

[Ibian]

I will never buy gold because I can not afford a full bar.

[DeathAndTaxes]

I will never buy gold because I can not afford a full bar.

Forget a full bar, I will never buy because I can't afford a full ton.  Everyone knows a full bar is just a fractional ton and who buys a fraction of anything.

[the_poet]

When we speak about 1 bitcoin costing $560 dollars many people are immediately turned away from the idea of investing in it simply due to "I have to pay 560 bucks just to own 1!!! wow I can't afford that" type of scenario. To attract more investors I propose that when we speak about bitcoins or when we put a price tag on goods/services that we talk about milibits (0.001 bitcoins). Each milibit right now would currently be worth $0.56 (56 cents) and thus people could buy into bitcoin and own 170+ milibits for $100. On the flip side people don't want to spend $100 on 0.17 bitcoins (talking to the general population I've even come to find that people didn't even know that a person could own fractions of a bitcoin).

I know it's just a psychological game, but I think it has some merit when it comes to the general public.

I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks about the topic. Feel free to leave comments/suggestions below

I have been saying it forever: it's psychology 101. People will buy much more happily whole things rather than small fractions.

[cbeast]

Bitcoin is a liquid commodity like water. America still uses gallons, quarts, cups, ounces, etc. for a reason. We don't like your easily divisible units of liters. We need arbitrary amounts that make no sense.

[ning]

I think people who seriously want to get involved would inevitably try to grasp the idea of the value of a full coin. So it might take sometime for people to make the mental shift from using large integers to decimal digits. Our brains are so flexible, and we don't necessarily have to push things too hard.

[the_poet]

When we speak about 1 bitcoin costing $560 dollars many people are immediately turned away from the idea of investing in it simply due to "I have to pay 560 bucks just to own 1!!! wow I can't afford that" type of scenario. To attract more investors I propose that when we speak about bitcoins or when we put a price tag on goods/services that we talk about milibits (0.001 bitcoins). Each milibit right now would currently be worth $0.56 (56 cents) and thus people could buy into bitcoin and own 170+ milibits for $100. On the flip side people don't want to spend $100 on 0.17 bitcoins (talking to the general population I've even come to find that people didn't even know that a person could own fractions of a bitcoin).

I know it's just a psychological game, but I think it has some merit when it comes to the general public.

I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks about the topic. Feel free to leave comments/suggestions below

I have been saying it forever: it's psychology 101. People will buy much more happily whole things rather than small fractions.

Not to mention it's difficult for many people to deal with decimals. It would be like a balance displaying people's weight in tonnes or if your height was measured in miles: they're both too big for most uses. The same goes for Bitcoin.

How is this difficult to understand?

[Valerian77]

It would be good to measure Btcoin finally in Satoshi. It seems that it will take some time until 100 Satoshi equal 1 USD.

But frankly said the real Bitcoin unit is Satoshi. Even now 1 USD is above 200,000 Satoshi it may not be far that 1 USD = 100,000 Satoshi. And for any investor who thinks about Bitcoin the imagination of buying lots of Satoshis may be much more attractive than buying a small part of a Bitcoin.

Secondly the everlasting discussion about the final unit may have a temporary end. And everybody gets a real picture on what he has instead of thinking in fractions of Bitcoin units all the time.

[cbeast]

When we speak about 1 bitcoin costing $560 dollars many people are immediately turned away from the idea of investing in it simply due to "I have to pay 560 bucks just to own 1!!! wow I can't afford that" type of scenario. To attract more investors I propose that when we speak about bitcoins or when we put a price tag on goods/services that we talk about milibits (0.001 bitcoins). Each milibit right now would currently be worth $0.56 (56 cents) and thus people could buy into bitcoin and own 170+ milibits for $100. On the flip side people don't want to spend $100 on 0.17 bitcoins (talking to the general population I've even come to find that people didn't even know that a person could own fractions of a bitcoin).

I know it's just a psychological game, but I think it has some merit when it comes to the general public.

I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks about the topic. Feel free to leave comments/suggestions below

I have been saying it forever: it's psychology 101. People will buy much more happily whole things rather than small fractions.

If you've ever raised children you know you can get them to eat or drink several small portions rather than one large. Simple folks may more easily buy nice round numbers of small units.

[the_poet]

When we speak about 1 bitcoin costing $560 dollars many people are immediately turned away from the idea of investing in it simply due to "I have to pay 560 bucks just to own 1!!! wow I can't afford that" type of scenario. To attract more investors I propose that when we speak about bitcoins or when we put a price tag on goods/services that we talk about milibits (0.001 bitcoins). Each milibit right now would currently be worth $0.56 (56 cents) and thus people could buy into bitcoin and own 170+ milibits for $100. On the flip side people don't want to spend $100 on 0.17 bitcoins (talking to the general population I've even come to find that people didn't even know that a person could own fractions of a bitcoin).

I know it's just a psychological game, but I think it has some merit when it comes to the general public.

I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks about the topic. Feel free to leave comments/suggestions below

I have been saying it forever: it's psychology 101. People will buy much more happily whole things rather than small fractions.

If you've ever raised children you know you can get them to eat or drink several small portions rather than one large. Simple folks may more easily buy nice round numbers of small units.

The same applies to money: you have a $10 bill, then you spend $1 and receive $9 in coins = you feel like your original $10 is gone.

The community is still treating Bitcoin like it's worth less than a penny. It's $640, hardly a handy money unit in everyday life.

[RUEHL]

True, the price is a physiological barrier to entry.  I've also wondered about this being problematic, and it also encourages hoarding. 

However, with the fractional reserve the Fed will keep printing money in the future the price will again see a divergence.

Tuff question...

[ZephramC]

Watch Dogecoin and watch 42 Coin. Are their exterme (un)divisibily relevant for adoption (among thinking and calculating people above basic school)? I think not.

[leopard2]

mainstream = lots of idiots

idiots can't cope with lots of zeros after the decimal mark

so yes I do think a split would definitely help Bitcoin; 1:10 or 1:100 would make sense.

is that possible at all?

[DeathAndTaxes]

is that possible at all?

Nope.  You can price things in mBTC (mbits, millies, milliebits, etc) or satoshis if you like.

[lyth0s]

mainstream = lots of idiots

<b>idiots can't cope with lots of zeros after the decimal mark</b>

so yes I do think a split would definitely help Bitcoin; 1:10 or 1:100 would make sense.

is that possible at all?

I agree, the general population can not deal with too many zeros after the decimal point, however they can deal with 1,000,000. I'd like to also re-emphasize my original point that the general population are not "proud" owners of 0.05 bitcoins....but 50 milibits/millies etc is a different story...

I give bitcoinity.com credit for starting the change that I know we need... http://bitcoinity.org/markets 

0.62USD/mBTC