Published on: 2019-03-07T18:10:41+00:00
In a recent discussion on the bitcoin-dev mailing list, Gregory Maxwell expressed his opposition to naming the smallest unit of bitcoin after Satoshi. He argued that if Satoshi wanted this, he would have done it himself and that the behavior is "creepy" and harmful to Bitcoin. However, another participant in the discussion disagreed, stating that having a common term for small amounts is important for improving user experience. They believe that using satoshis as a unit is more likely to achieve this goal than scientific notations.One potential issue with using satoshis as a unit is that it may sound strange or even humorous to native Japanese speakers. The discussion suggests that getting feedback from Japanese speakers on this topic could be useful. Regarding the proposal to formalize the symbol for satoshi, there is some disagreement about whether it has sufficient support to become a standard. The suggestion is made to wait for something to emerge that already has widespread usage, such as a symbol used by popular wallets or service providers.Non-engineers are unlikely to adopt scientific notation or mili/nano/pico prefixes for money. The convention is that most common currencies either have no change or only one that is 1/100 of the base unit, which is what practically all existing finance software and non-Bitcoin related UI that deals with money assumes. Bitcoin engineering blindness ignores evident cultural preference and pre-existing finance-related software.Tamas Blummer supports the BIP for bits as a base unit for Bitcoin. However, Gregory Maxwell finds it creepy and harmful to Bitcoin to name currency units after Satoshi. Lightning network does not use satoshis as a base unit but uses units of 10 picobitcoin. A BIP for satoshi as a base unit is not appropriate.In an email exchange between Amine Chakak and Gregory Maxwell, the idea of switching the base unit of Bitcoin to Satoshi was discussed. However, Maxwell expressed his disagreement with the idea, stating that if Satoshi Nakamoto had wanted the currency units named after him, he would have done so himself. Maxwell also criticized the behavior as "creepy" and "harmful" to Bitcoin. Chakak also mentioned the use of satoshis as a base unit in the Lightning Network, but Maxwell corrected him, stating that Lightning uses units of 10 picobitcoin (1e-11 btc), which is significantly smaller. Finally, Chakak asked if it would be appropriate to write a BIP for the proposed change, but Maxwell advised against it, stating "Please don't. "A proposal to switch to "satoshi" as a base unit for Bitcoin has been floated around, but it has met with criticism from some members of the Bitcoin community. The idea was presented on the bitcoin-dev mailing list by Amine Chakak, but one user argued that if Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto had wanted the currency units named after him, he would have done so himself. Additionally, another user pointed out that the lightning network, which is built on top of Bitcoin, actually uses units of 10 picobitcoin rather than satoshis. As a result, the idea of creating a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) for the switch to satoshi as a base unit was discouraged.The writer is proposing an idea for a satoshi symbol to be used as the base unit in cryptocurrency transactions. The proposal comes from Twitter user @bitficus, and the idea has already been discussed within the community since the lightning network already uses satoshis as a base unit. The proposal link is provided and the writer asks if it would be appropriate to write a BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal) for it. The writer is following the website's instruction to first propose ideas for BIPS on the mailing list before submitting them formally.
Updated on: 2023-08-02T00:32:15.254714+00:00