Bitcoin is also a currency, why is its unit so different from the commonly used

[firewhat]

Bitcoin is also a currency, why is its unit so different from the commonly used currency units?  

    For example: $1 = 100 cents. Not only the conversion ratio of the US dollar, but other currencies also have similar regulations.

    So,The same is true for the unit of Bitcoin:1μBTC=100Satoshi.

    1μBTC is equivalent to a unit of 1 USD. 1btc=30079 US dollars, this is not customary to use,
  
    converted to: 1μBTC≈0.03 US dollars,
  
    The same unit, the same habits, but a brighter future！

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Example: A bag of bread in a supermarket is labeled:   A, $2.
                                                                              
                                                                                B, 0.00006653 BTC.
                                                                                
                                                                                C, 66.53 µBTC.

        According to the degree to which the currency issued by each country can be continuously decomposed, it is customary to use the third digit from

the bottom as the main unit. For example: 1 USD, 1 Euro, 1 Chinese Yuan, etc.One of the prerequisites for the large-scale application of a standard is

that the unit should be unified and easy to conform to habits. Because it is necessary to consider the understanding and acceptance level of the vast

majority of people, such as the elderly, children, people with low education and so on. Using such a large unit as BTC, it is too troublesome to represent

some daily necessities.
      
         In addition, considering the total amount of Bitcoin issued, the world economy, and the global population, 1µBTC≈3USD in the near future is just

a new beginning。
          
         I believe it...

[mk4]

I've been somewhat of a huge advocate for using a small denominator as well. Specifically, sats. Yes, 1 sat is around like $0.0003, but it'll probably be fine in the long term.

People seem to be naturally attracted towards 'cheap' prices. The same reason why the likes of DOGE, SHIB, ADA have gotten so much attention from retail noobs — because of their decimal price.

[jackg]

I've been somewhat of a huge advocate for using a small denominator as well. Specifically, sats.

I think all numerical values for bitcoin in bitcoin core (and the blockchain it downloads) are also represented in sats too.


@OP your mention of it being 1/1000 reminded me of the Indian currency system that seems to also use sets of 1000 instead of the cent system (sets of 100) the dollar, euro and pound sterling use.

[Fundamentals Of]

Bitcoin is also a currency, why is its unit so different from the commonly used currency units? 

Why, does it have to be the same? In the first place, Bitcoin is a world different from the US Dollar and other fiat currencies, even the antithesis to them, so I guess it is also good that its currency units are done in a different way. What is perhaps most important in this respect is that Bitcoin is divisible, which is very important in a functioning currency. A single BTC could be divided up to the 8^th decimal point.

[Flexystar]

Yup everyone has that adrenaline of possessing one full coin. Just like mk4 stated, it’s easy to say I have 100 hundred doge or 1 doge. Even in case of decimal bitcoin everyone keeps calling it bitcoin because that’s what makes it everyone easier to understand. Micro, sats, are just being words these days.

May be due to decimal conversions and little difficult understanding of fiat conversion makes it difficult to use word sats. For example, give me $0.0003 in bitcoin?

[mk4]

I think all numerical values for bitcoin in bitcoin core (and the blockchain it downloads) are also represented in sats too.

Correct me if I'm wrong — but we don't even need to have a soft fork for sats to be the standard, right? All we need are the typical front-end app wallets(and things like CMC and CoinGecko) to collaborate and switch to sats as default. As Bitcoin Core already uses sats by default on the back-end anyway.

[pooya87]

Bitcoin broke all the traditions when it comes to currencies.
It has no physical form.
It has no central authority controlling it.
It has limited supply.
It is global.
and more.
Why shouldn't its unit be any different? Although it is not different  the way you think. The difference is that you can use any unit you like. For example I also like the satoshi unit and that's what you can use. For example something worth $1 is also worth 3300 sat.
In other words the difference is in the freedom to chose any unit you want. It is also reflected (to some extent) in wallet softwares.

[Kakmakr]

I think all numerical values for bitcoin in bitcoin core (and the blockchain it downloads) are also represented in sats too.

Correct me if I'm wrong — but we don't even need to have a soft fork for sats to be the standard, right? All we need are the typical front-end app wallets(and things like CMC and CoinGecko) to collaborate and switch to sats as default. As Bitcoin Core already uses sats by default on the back-end anyway.

I think this will happen..once Bitcoin adoption has grown exponentially and the value of a Satoshi has increased drastically. We know the bitcoins supply are dwindling for several reasons, so the availability of bitcoins will become problematic and people will have to resort to Satoshis to trade and to make payments for products and services. 

Imagine when a time will come where a Satoshi might be valued at $1 .......    (This sounds crazy, but a bitcoin valued at $60 000 also sounded crazy..back in 2010.)

[pooya87]

Imagine when a time will come where a Satoshi might be valued at $1 .......    (This sounds crazy, but a bitcoin valued at $60 000 also sounded crazy..back in 2010.)

It is not very crazy to imagine considering the way that US dollar is being printed non-stop while not being backed by anything anymore. Soon we will have to stop measuring the value in fiat and start measuring it in goods instead.

[Upgrade00]

Correct me if I'm wrong — but we don't even need to have a soft fork for sats to be the standard, right? All we need are the typical front-end app wallets(and things like CMC and CoinGecko) to collaborate and switch to sats as default. As Bitcoin Core already uses sats by default on the back-end anyway.

If they did so now, I'm of the opinion that a lot of users would still switch back to viewing the price in bitcoins rather than a fraction of it, as that has become the standard not just for Bitcoin, but for any cryptocurrency listed there.

Also, sats appear quite often in Bitcoin for peoplyto have become more familiar with it; for one it's the default standard for measuring feerate on transactions, so looking at the sats/byte or vbyte would give one an idea of how much cents of dollars they pay in relation to sats.

[mk4]

If they did so now, I'm of the opinion that a lot of users would still switch back to viewing the price in bitcoins rather than a fraction of it, as that has become the standard not just for Bitcoin, but for any cryptocurrency listed there.

Also, sats appear quite often in Bitcoin for peoplyto have become more familiar with it; for one it's the default standard for measuring feerate on transactions, so looking at the sats/byte or vbyte would give one an idea of how much cents of dollars they pay in relation to sats.

People will definitely need to adjust, but this is one of those things that it's better to change sooner than later, as it will be far harder in the future if we will need far more people to adjust. This needs to be done before bitcoin becomes a well-adopted payments asset.

As for pricing altcoins, they're mostly priced in USDC now. Done are the days where most if not all altcoins are priced vs BTC.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I think all numerical values for bitcoin in bitcoin core (and the blockchain it downloads) are also represented in sats too.

Correct.

Correct me if I'm wrong — but we don't even need to have a soft fork for sats to be the standard, right? All we need are the typical front-end app wallets(and things like CMC and CoinGecko) to collaborate and switch to sats as default. As Bitcoin Core already uses sats by default on the back-end anyway.

Correct, but it doesn't actually matter what Bitcoin Core uses on the back end. It uses sats, but we still have various wallets and services which display BTC, mBTC, μBTC, bits, sats, etc. A wallet or service can use whatever units they like.

Imagine when a time will come where a Satoshi might be valued at $1 ....... 

That would put the market cap of bitcoin at 2.1 quadrillion dollars. The only way that could ever happen is if the dollar collapses due to hyperinflation (although such a suggestion doesn't seem nearly as a crazy as it would have 15-20 years ago).

As for pricing altcoins, they're mostly priced in USDC now. Done are the days where most if not all altcoins are priced vs BTC.

Are they? I suppose it helps to hide the fact that the altcoin is collapsing when you measure it against another collapsing currency. Like when you look at BCash 3 years ago - it was $200 then and it's $200 now, but it was 0.05 BTC then and it's not even 0.007 BTC now. Fiat value hasn't changed, bitcoin value is down ~86%.

Personally, I prefer using either BTC or sats. All the units in the middle - mBTC, μBTC, bits - are unnecessary and confusing.

[Smartvirus]

Bitcoin is also a currency, why is its unit so different from the commonly used currency units? 

    For example: $1 = 100 cents. Not only the conversion ratio of the US dollar, but other currencies also have similar regulations.

    So,The same is true for the unit of Bitcoin:1μBTC=100Satoshi.

    1μBTC is equivalent to a unit of 1 USD. 1btc=30079 US dollars, this is not customary to use,
 
    converted to: 1μBTC≈0.03 US dollars,
   
    The same unit, the same habits, but a brighter future！

Bitcoin though might be a currency, it is completely distinct from fiat currencies and as such, there isn't any reason for them to have a definitive unit of measurement as with fiat.
If we are to look at it:

Bitcoin is digital while fiat, is paper money.
Bitcoin operates a decentralized system, fiat is centralized.
Bitcoin belongs with blockchain, fiats operates with the CB and its degenerate banks.
New bitcoins are mint by mining, fiats are printed in the CB.
Bitcoin has got a finite number, some 21million BTC while, fiat can be printed as need be by the CB.
Bitcoin is highly volatile and fiat isn't.

And it keeps going on and on to give accounts as to why bitcoin shouldn't have a definitive unit to its value. In order to serve more better, the 21million BTC available, it has to be liable to some appreciation to ensure its least value has some validity to it in the far future.
Bitcoin is distinctive to fiat unit measurements and thats for the best!

[hZti]

It is easy why we use Bitcoin and not Satoshi as standard, because at the beginning of Bitcoin you would even have to send a few tousand BTC to transfer any value.

[mk4]

Are they? I suppose it helps to hide the fact that the altcoin is collapsing when you measure it against another collapsing currency. Like when you look at BCash 3 years ago - it was $200 then and it's $200 now, but it was 0.05 BTC then and it's not even 0.007 BTC now. Fiat value hasn't changed, bitcoin value is down ~86%.

Personally, I prefer using either BTC or sats. All the units in the middle - mBTC, μBTC, bits - are unnecessary and confusing.

Yes. The main trading pairs are mostly against USDC/ETH now simply because of the liquidity on on-chain AMMs like Uniswap. Obviously BTC/altcoin can't be a trading pair on an on-chain AMM, so the default is USDC or ETH. People aren't fans of wrapped bitcoin(wBTC) for obvious reasons.

[hatshepsut93]

I think Satoshi had no idea how much could Bitcoin be worth, so instead of trying to guess how big the total supply will be, and how much subunits should Bitcoin have, he just divided Bitcoin into 100,000,000 parts, because with 21,000,000 coins that creates enough units to teoretically cover all the demand for units of account in the world.

I don't think anyone should try to force any standard Bitcoin unit, users should have an option if they want Bitcoin to be displayed in bitcoins, milibitcoins, microbitcoins, sats or any other units they prefer.

[jackg]

@mk4 I'm now wondering if you're after a stock split like event - exchanges will be the ones that can make people change, and if you can buy a whole bitcoin derivative for a dollar (or less) there'll probably be a lot more excitement than someone spending a day's wage on 0.003BTC.

If they did so now, I'm of the opinion that a lot of users would still switch back to viewing the price in bitcoins rather than a fraction of it, as that has become the standard not just for Bitcoin, but for any cryptocurrency listed there.

People will definitely need to adjust, but this is one of those things that it's better to change sooner than later, as it will be far harder in the future if we will need far more people to adjust. This needs to be done before bitcoin becomes a well-adopted payments asset.

I think people will change it back but they'll normally get comfortable with the new numbers after a while.
If you're checking something daily (which is probably where you'd be more likely to change it back) it'd probably take you a few months to switch but then that's done and you've switched.

Correct me if I'm wrong — but we don't even need to have a soft fork for sats to be the standard, right? All we need are the typical front-end app wallets(and things like CMC and CoinGecko) to collaborate and switch to sats as default. As Bitcoin Core already uses sats by default on the back-end anyway.

If arithmatic is involved anywhere, calculations will already be being done to convert sats to btc, at most it probably means deleting a line of code or removing a symbol (potentially a database reset too but probably not).

I think the main problem with doing this would probably be the rivalry it produces over what decimals to use.
The lightning network (purely as an example) uses pico, nano, micro and milli in it's specifier.
I would assume the satoshi came from the idea of bitcoin having at most 16 digits that way (the <21000000 being the first 8 that could possibly be represented up to).


Electrum preinstalls with mbtc seleted, I don't know if that changed but I think we could expect it to become bits and then sats whenever their devs seem it appropriate (bitcoin core comes preloaded in btc still though afaik).

[mk4]

@mk4 I'm now wondering if you're after a stock split like event - exchanges will be the ones that can make people change, and if you can buy a whole bitcoin derivative for a dollar (or less) there'll probably be a lot more excitement than someone spending a day's wage on 0.003BTC.

Lol pretty much. Bitcoin's default high unit price gets a lot of newbies to buy "cheaper" (shit) coins because of the "bitcoin is too expensive I can never get 1 full bitcoin" narrative. Using sats as default on almost all platforms fixes this.

That, and if we want to put more emphasis on bitcoin as 'money', paying "17k sats"(hopefully far lower in number in the future) is far better than paying "zero point zero zero zero seventeen BTC" for a cup of coffee. Using decimals is horrendous UX.

Obviously it's going to be extremely difficult because it's going to need mass consensus and a lot of organizing, with preferably with most platforms switching to sats at a certain exact day and time. But yea, tbh if I was a famous bitcoin personality(that's rich enough to not need to work a day of my life), I'd spend most of my time pushing this narrative. I think it's far more important than most people think.

[tranthidung]

There are many units for Bitcoin

• [Did you know?] Bitcoin Table of Units
• Honestly I don't know and can't not remember all of sub-units. I remember two units which are enough for me: Bitcoin and satoshi

[AicecreaME]

Bitcoin is also a currency, why is its unit so different from the commonly used currency units? 

    For example: $1 = 100 cents. Not only the conversion ratio of the US dollar, but other currencies also have similar regulations.

    So,The same is true for the unit of Bitcoin:1μBTC=100Satoshi.

    1μBTC is equivalent to a unit of 1 USD. 1btc=30079 US dollars, this is not customary to use,
 
    converted to: 1μBTC≈0.03 US dollars,
   
    The same unit, the same habits, but a brighter future！

Bitcoin has defied so many societal standards already. I don't see anything wrong if it is different from other currency conversion or  unit. As long as it is understood by many and do its function, then it's all good. One reason that I think why bitcoin is called 'bitcoin' despite how big or small its value is that it is much easier to comprehend and it doesn't bring up any confusion to the people who are using it and are planning to use it. It's convenient and comfortable to use. 

After all, we have the authority to view our portfolios the way we want to. So if you prefer other subunits of bitcoin, you can set it up yourself if that is what you preferred to use.