Okay, here's a completely random idea for a thread that's already flooded with ideas. What about using the Chinese character 币 or some stylized variant thereof?
币
It means "currency", and if you look, the right-hand side looks like a "b", the center part like a "T", and the bottom half like a turned "C". I'm under the impression that a substantial portion of Bitcoin's early adopters are Chinese.
(This being said, my first instinct would be to try to get a double-stroked B identical to the logo into Unicode. By typography-geek standards, it's sufficiently distinct from the Baht symbol.)
Topic: Official Bitcoin Unicode Character? - page 7. (Read 83901 times)
For symbols not yet officially in Unicode, there is the private use area, and there is an organisation, forgot the name, that helps coordinate the use of that area. Even if we haven't decided what it should look like yet, perhaps it might be possible to reserve a codepoint there.
Once we settle on a symbol, we can make a font with it, and webpages can use embeded font to render that character correctly for anyone with a modern browser.
Once we settle on a symbol, we can make a font with it, and webpages can use embeded font to render that character correctly for anyone with a modern browser.
The ฿ symbol already has an official Unicode name "THAI CURRENCY SYMBOL BAHT".
Unless bitcoin change its name to "Bahtcoin", we should not mess with other countries currency symbol.
Especially the ฿ symbol is only used exclusively for the Thai Baht now, I am sure they will have a strong attachment and ownership feeling towards this symbol.
If I were Thai, i would not be happy about that.
People using the $ may not have such feelings, because so many other currencies are using the $ symbol.
It takes a long time for Unicode to adopt a new character. Something that is already in Unicode is much more convenient. Once adopted, people all over the world can use it, type it (or at least copy and paste) it immediately.
Bitcoin don't have to have a currency symbol, but a currency is really a logo, an identity. Bitcoin is for the electronic medium. It is international. For example, if shown on a shopping website, people knows straight away that the price shown is in Bitcoin (but not Thai baht!).
Unless bitcoin change its name to "Bahtcoin", we should not mess with other countries currency symbol.
Especially the ฿ symbol is only used exclusively for the Thai Baht now, I am sure they will have a strong attachment and ownership feeling towards this symbol.
If I were Thai, i would not be happy about that.
People using the $ may not have such feelings, because so many other currencies are using the $ symbol.
It takes a long time for Unicode to adopt a new character. Something that is already in Unicode is much more convenient. Once adopted, people all over the world can use it, type it (or at least copy and paste) it immediately.
Bitcoin don't have to have a currency symbol, but a currency is really a logo, an identity. Bitcoin is for the electronic medium. It is international. For example, if shown on a shopping website, people knows straight away that the price shown is in Bitcoin (but not Thai baht!).
Btw,
Already present on Unicode:
☺ u+261A
☻ u+261B
㋡ (that's tsu encircled
)
Hahaha. Somehow, I like this idea. ☺ How about: 
Already present on Unicode:
☺ u+261A
☻ u+261B
㋡ (that's tsu encircled
)
Btw,
Already present on Unicode:
☺ u+261A
☻ u+261B
㋡ (that's tsu encircled )
How about:
Already present on Unicode:
☺ u+261A
☻ u+261B
㋡ (that's tsu encircled
) 
OK I have made a much better one 
This one is simple, looks like a currency symbol, easy to write, easy to see at small sizes.
http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-61/2743bitcoin_uni.png
What do you think?
This one is simple, looks like a currency symbol, easy to write, easy to see at small sizes. http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-61/2743bitcoin_uni.png
What do you think?
At first i thought you had took some regular symbol and did some sort of inside out logarithmic transformation in a graphics program, but then i got it!
It's an interesting idea, but i think that one works better as a logo than as a symbol, it doesn't look like it would be easy to handwrite, and the details at the top would probably be missed when rendered in smaller sizes...
It's an interesting idea, but i think that one works better as a logo than as a symbol, it doesn't look like it would be easy to handwrite, and the details at the top would probably be missed when rendered in smaller sizes...
Ok, kinda like this:
+1 This is the one i like the best so far! Very creative.
Well, I like ⓑ and Ⓑ so I put together a wiki page on how to make them super easy to type on a Mac. Could somebody donate instructions for Linux and Windows too?
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_easily_type_the_circled_B_symbol_on_a_Mac
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_easily_type_the_circled_B_symbol_on_a_Mac
Ok, kinda like this:
(i created this using the b and @ of the Comics Sans font, removing the a part, merging the b, and tweaking where the tail meets the b, and a few little distortions of the b itself to fit better inside the tail)
edit: i tried writing both the @ and the b'at on paper a few times, and didn't notice any difference in the dificulty of writing one and the other.
edit2: i would like to suggest that this character be accessed in keyboards by using AltGr+B whenever the layout doesn't have another character there with higher priority.
edit3:am i doing somthing wrong or the forum really has email notifications disabled?
(i created this using the b and @ of the Comics Sans font, removing the a part, merging the b, and tweaking where the tail meets the b, and a few little distortions of the b itself to fit better inside the tail)
edit: i tried writing both the @ and the b'at on paper a few times, and didn't notice any difference in the dificulty of writing one and the other.
edit2: i would like to suggest that this character be accessed in keyboards by using AltGr+B whenever the layout doesn't have another character there with higher priority.
edit3:am i doing somthing wrong or the forum really has email notifications disabled?
well, it wouldn't be tooooo hard, if you did the line as one stroke, and then the two circles as another, but it would definitely take some getting used to, and not flow as naturally as @.
soo...
A symbol like this needs to be suitable for handwriting, like the "@" sign, but it's hard to do this with "b". Try it and you'll see what I mean.
Go for it, that was just a 5-minute hack-job in GIMP.. I still like Ⓑ. It's inclusion in the current unicode set, imo, beats the "but it's not perfect" argument.
No, not backwards, the tail is almost exactly the same way.
I'm installing Inkscape on my machine right now, in a few moments i should be able to provide a decent representation of what i mean.
I'm installing Inkscape on my machine right now, in a few moments i should be able to provide a decent representation of what i mean.
so, like an @, but backwards?
If this gains approval, I could fix it.
If this gains approval, I could fix it.
I pictured it with the tail comming out following the curve at the bottom of the b, not straight down and then around, but that's close.
The way i picture it, the tail starts kinda sideways/to the side like with the @.
The way i picture it, the tail starts kinda sideways/to the side like with the @.
soo...
?
?
How about a b'at, an @ with a "b" instead of an "a" inside? It's round like a coin, got the B for Bitcoin, and borrows an style already widelly associated with computers! 
I'm going to toss my vote in for Ⓑ
Since it really does look like the logo.
Since it really does look like the logo.
I vote for that as well. I really like the logo as it quickly makes it clear what bitcoin is all about. It communicates the idea of money quickly and easily, without the need for wordy explanations. The Ⓑ recalls the logo, and so would become easily recognizable as the bitcoin symbol.
+1
Let's sum it up:
1) Ⓑ is not like any other currency, so perhaps it should have a different symbol unlike dollar $ / euro € which have lines through the letter.
2) Ⓑ resembles a "coin"
3) Ⓑ looks like the logo (as already said)
4) Ⓑ ?? ??
5) Ⓑ PROFIT !!
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