On 13 December 2017 at 22:36, David A. Harding via bitcoin-dev <bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote: > - Microbitcoins is not a homonym for any other word in English (and > probably not in any other language), whereas "bit" and "bits" have > more than a dozen homonyms in English---some of which are quite common > in general currency usage, Bitcoin currency usage, or Bitcoin > technical usage.
Reposting /u/BashCo's post on reddit here, for visibility: ---8<--------------------------------------------------------------- > Before anyone says 'bits' are too confusing because it's a computer science > term, here's a list of homonyms > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_true_homonyms] that you use every day. > Homonyms are fine because our brains are able to interpret language based on > context, so it's a non-argument. Also, the term 'bits' was used in reference > to money long before 'bits and bytes' came along, and even before the metric > system itself. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(money) > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonial_real > 'Bits' are superior to mBTC partly because we'll need to transition to bits > eventually anyways (one transition is easier than two), but more importantly, > bits have two decimal places, matching the format of dozens of other major > currencies. > No other currency has 8 decimal places, or even 4 decimal places. Most of > them have 2. Dollars and cents, Bits and satoshis. > If people actually want this to happen, then they need to train their own > brains by switching their wallets and exchange settings to bits. The shift > will probably happen eventually, although the major Bitcoin denomination > probably isn't going anywhere any time soon, even if the majority of people > use 'bits' as a matter of habit. > 99.99 bits is currently equal to $1.63 USD. ---8<--------------------------------------------------------------- > > - Microbitcoins trains users to understand SI prefixes, allowing them to > easily migrate from one prefix to the next. This will be important > when bitcoin prices rise to $10M USD[1] and the bits denomination has > the same problems the millibitcoin denomination has now, but it's also > useful in the short term when interacting with users who make very > large payments (bitcoin-scale) or very small payments > (nanobitcoin-scale).[2] Maybe a table of scale can emphasize this > point: > > Wrong (IMO): Right (IMO): > --------------- -------------- > BTC BTC > mBTC mBTC > bits µBTC > nBTC nBTC > I wouldn't expect people to type out µBTC. I think the best you can hope for here is uBTC. As for saying "microbitcoins", I can virtually guarantee that this will be abbreviated to "microbits" and/or eventually "bits" anyway. Bits and sats. > [1] A rise in price to $10M doesn't require huge levels of growth---it > only requires time under the assumption that a percentage of bitcoins will > be lost every year due to wallet mishaps, failure to inherit bitcoins, > and other issues that remove bitcoins from circulation. In other words, > it's important to remember that Bitcoin is expected to become a > deflationary currency and plan accordingly. > > [2] Although Bitcoin does not currently support committed > nanobitcoin-scale payments in the block chain, it can be supported in a > variety of ways by offchain systems---including (it is hypothesized) > trustless systems based on probabilistic payments. > > Thanks, > > -Dave > > _______________________________________________ > bitcoin-dev mailing list > bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org > https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev > _______________________________________________ bitcoin-dev mailing list bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
