Last week, long-time bitcoiner John Carvalho presented A new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) that aims to address the issue of unit bias that many people face when they first discover Bitcoin.
“This BIP proposes to redefine the commonly recognized “Bitcoin” unit to become the primary reference unit previously known as the smallest indivisible unit,” explains Carvalho. “Under this proposal, a bitcoin is defined as the smallest unit, eliminating the need for decimal places. By making the integral unit the standard measurement, this BIP aims to simplify user understanding, avoid confusion is to reduce , and align the on-chain values directly with their displayed representation.
The display of how Bitcoin units are displayed will change from its current state to:
Current: 1.00000000 BTC → New: 100000000 BTC
Current: 0.00500000 BTC → New: 500000 BTC
Current: 0.00010000 BTC → New: 10000 BTC
“Historically, 1 BTC = 100,000,000 base units. Under this proposal, “1 Bitcoin” is equal to that smallest unit,” the proposal continued.
I understand where Carvalho is coming from on this and I can imagine scenarios where some people might find it easy, but I think the thinking here is likely short sighted and the larger of things. Doesn’t work as planned.
Over the years I have also heard of other Bitcoiners discussing ways to combat Bitcoin’s unit bias. It seems that most bitcoiners are mainly concerned with how new users are often immediately discouraged if they can’t afford a full bitcoin, and instead focus on buying altcoins where they can find that coin. can buy at least 1 unit of
I personally do not support this BIP, after acknowledging the issues it is trying to address. I think it will add more confusion than solve it. I think it’s ultimately a waste of time and energy for Bitcoin developers to focus on this when there are so many other things they could be working on that would add real value to Bitcoin.
I think Stephen Livera did a couple really good takes on this, showing how silly it would actually be in practice.
Hey I got this great idea! Instead of 1 pizza with 8 slices, let’s call each slice a pizza!
When you go to order your pizza make sure you order 8 pizzas instead of 1 now. Otherwise the staff will get confused.
Just my 2 pizzas.
— Stephan Livera (@stephanlivera) December 14, 2024
Everyone involved in Bitcoin is already used to how it’s currently determined, so it’s not a real problem that most people care about. Carvalho suggests implementing a feature where wallets and such can toggle between the current and new way of displaying bitcoin units, so there is a transition period where users can change their way of specifying bitcoin units. can get used to, but I don’t see why it would be worth the change.
Starting to explain like this and potentially slow adoption will feel like a burden on everyone if anything.
Good luck to those who instead of explaining "There will never be more than 2.1 quadrillion bitcoins" 😂
— Stephan Livera (@stephanlivera) December 14, 2024
This article is a take. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
