Source: Cointelegraph
Original text: (The dispute over "satoshis" vs. "bits" reignites in the proposal to change Bitcoin's (BTC) basic unit)
A recent proposal aimed at changing the basic unit of Bitcoin to make it easier to understand as a payment tool faced opposition, with critics arguing that Bitcoin's "satoshis" are no more confusing than the "cents" in dollars.
Bitcoin developer John Carvalho proposed Bitcoin Improvement Proposal-177 (BIP-177) on April 23, which seeks to eliminate the concept of "satoshis" (1 Bitcoin equals 100 million satoshis), essentially splitting Bitcoin's fixed supply of 21 million into 21 trillion units.
This proposal continues the idea put forth by Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song in 2017 to create "bits," which is one-millionth of a Bitcoin. However, Carvalho argued that Song's approach still requires Bitcoin users to consider the decimal point, which "only shifts the complexity rather than eliminating it."
Block Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey is one of the supporters of this change, stating in a post on platform X on May 18 that satoshis (or sats) are too confusing for newcomers.
"The bit unit of Bitcoin is better, and using only Bitcoin is the best choice," Dorsey said.
Dorsey pointed to a discussion in December 2024, when Stevie Lee, product head at Bitcoin infrastructure company Spiral, believed that not enough people understand or care about what satoshis are.
"Everyone knows Bitcoin, but no one knows Satoshi. People just want to send and receive Bitcoin," Li recalled, noting that in past conversations, people thought Satoshi was a brand new token unrelated to Bitcoin.
He added that the Bitcoin community should not worry too much about this change, as they know the fundamental economics of Bitcoin will remain unchanged.
Cory Klippsten, CEO of Swan Bitcoin, and Michelle Weekley, product director at Byte Federal, both opposed this change.
Weekley stated on platform X, "People understand cents in a dollar, and they will also understand satoshis in a Bitcoin."
Self-proclaimed Bitcoin consultant Magdalena Gronowska claimed that this change might lead some to believe that Bitcoin's price could suddenly plummet from its current price of around $100,000 and that its "supply has significantly inflated."
Robin Linus, creator of the Bitcoin Virtual Machine (BitVM), emphasized that even Bitcoin's anonymous creator Satoshi is open to changing the way Bitcoin units are displayed to enhance usability.
"If using small numbers becomes exhausting, we can change the position of the decimal point," Satoshi said in a post in February 2010, after which he disappeared the following year.
"The amount is the same, just the representation is different," Satoshi added.
Since the Taproot upgrade in November 2021 (aimed at improving the speed, efficiency, and privacy of Bitcoin), the Bitcoin network has not implemented any improvement proposals.
Related: Metaplanet once again made a large purchase of 1,004 Bitcoins (BTC), setting the second-largest single increase record in history.
