Topic: Possible solution to bitcoin decimal problem (Read 973 times)

Not many people would use standard engineering notation for BTC above 1. I know I would be much more likely to write 1 million BTC or 1,000,000 BTC. People don't currently use engineering notation for older currencies so why would they use it for Bitcoin? With the exception of smaller units since this is a new concept. To my knowledge, the largest number of decimal places of current currencies is 2.
So I think people will say things like 1,000,000 BTC, 0.1BTC and 10 mBTC. I find the use of Kilo, Mega etc. unlikely. That's just what I think though.

It's my prediction that once we hit the 90% mark for generated bitcoins (around 2025 IIRC) and bitcoin is still a strong network and currency, there will be massive deflation. I remember from some youtube video or podcast or something that if the 21mil final bitcoins were worth the same amount as the totality of US dollars, then a Satoshi would be worth about USD 0.04. It's the case in much of the 1st world that 0.05 is the lowest denomination used in hand-to-hand transaction, so it's likely that the Satoshi will be the smallest unit practical, especially since all other worldly currencies are ONLY inflating.

The bitcoin protocol can be adapted though, and be modified to divide bitcoins down further than 8 decimal places.

That being said, I support the idea of using SI standard prefixes. Why reinvent the wheel?

I am definitely a fan of SI units. But practicalities might mean things play out differently. For example if I scribble down the value of something as 1mBTC with a poorly written "m" then a reader may have a hard time working out whether it means one megaBTC (1MBTC) or one milliBTC (1mBTC).

Merchants have a habit of dictating these things, just look at sterling pre-decimalisation. And I won't even begin to go into why "a Monkey" is £500.

BTC, mBTC, µBTC, satoshi - simples.

It is likely that the usual financial nomenclature will be used. For example 1MBTC (One million bitcoins), 1BBTC (One billion bitcoins) etc.

And we already have the base unit, a "satoshi". Not sure if there is a symbol yet though...

1BTC = 100,000,000 satoshi

So values could be given in "one million satoshis" etc. However, it will be a bit painful to be saying that every time you wanted to buy a tube of tooth paste for 0.13BTC though. In this case I would use "thirteen bit cents". For 0.0003BTC I would say "three millibits".

Am looking to the experienced forum users to tell us how they quote values.

EDIT: Typo and clarity

Hi there,

I'm a newbie so can't post in other forums where this topic might be discussed.

The problem is as you know that as Bitcoins become more valuable, everyday transaction for small ticket items will take place using numbers like 0.0000001 Bitcoins. The notation currently used is not easy to understand for the man in the street.

My solution is to have each number place correspond to a letter of the alphabet, we already say a BTC = 33$ so why not say a bBTC = $3.3 & a cBTC = 33 cents?

_____________________1 BTC   = $33.4567
_____________________1 bBTC  = $3.34567
_____________________1 cBTC  = $0.334567
_____________________1 dBTC  = $0.0334567

And so on...

So if somebody in the future says a can of cokes costs 8 gBTC, even if you've only seen this decimal system now, you already know
8 gBTC = 80 hBTC = 800 iBTC = 0.8 fBTC = 0.000008 BTC

1 BTC  =  1 000 000 gBTC     (G is the 7th letter of the alphabet and so a Bitcoin expressed in G's will be a 1 seven digit number)
3 BTC  =  3 000 dBTC           (D is the 4th letter of the alphabet so it will always be a 4 digit number 1000-9999)

So people can aim to be millionaires in the future but in denominations of Bitcoins, so even if you only own 1 BTC Bitcoin now, you're
already a gBTC millionaire! Congratulations!!!

So when bitcoins are $350 each, a bBTC will be worth $35 and a cBTC will be worth $3.5.

If you were walking round with physical Bitcoins or Pricing items online they would just have to have the BTC symbol and 1 letter.
 
So with an inflationary currency the small coins become obsolete as they become worthless, while obviously with a deflationary currency like Bitcoin you will start minting smaller and smaller denomination coins or prices as the currency becomes more valuable.
This format will be easily understood all the way up to 0.0000000000000000000000004  congratulations you own 4 zBTC!