Bitcoin Sats Or Bits? Adam Back Tweets His Call
Should we be bagging bits rather than stacking sats?
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In a recent Tweet, Adam Back raised a very important question about the “Nickname” we use to refer to a fraction Bitcoin. According to Adam Back (who is an early Bitcoin adopter and also one of the figures who many believe to be Satoshi Nakamoto) using the term Sats, or Satoshis, to describe the smallest fraction of Bitcoin can be confusing to the average user. He encourages using Bits instead.
The word bit or bits is not often used to describe fractions of bitcoin anymore, but before the introduction of Sats 1/100 of a Bit, Bits was all we got. During a tweet storm regarding bits and sats, Adam Back goes on to describe a curiosity about Bitcoin. A fact that not many of us know about the early days of Bitcoin.
According to Adam: “Apparently early bitcoin had only BTC and old bitcents. 2.1 billion old bitcents was 21mil BTC. Story I heard from early developers, was (Hal Finley) persuaded Satoshi it wasn’t enough for world population, and so Satoshi added 1million divisions, moving the new bitcent to 1/100th bit, A bit being 1millionth part of a bitcoin. Where 1bit=100bitcents, like 3.45 bits = 3bits and 45 bitcents. Later community honorifically dubbed the bitcent the satoshi or sat for short. But afaict it was intended to be 2 digit decimal bitcent after the smallest base unit bit.”
Adam goes on to suggest a new Bitcoin trend. For those who have been stacking sats currently valued close to $0.0002 of a dollar he explains it makes more sense to cut some zeros from our lingo and refer to the same action as buying bits, currently valued close to $0.02. Anyone newly adopting Bits of Bitcoin can gain a much easier understanding of its conversion to Dollar or other fiat currencies by using Bits. It is just more practical. The idea is that as the price of Bitcoin grows and eventually hits 1 million dollars 1 Bit would be equal 1 dollar. How cool is that!
He reinforces the idea by not discarding our dear Sats. Instead by emphasizing its important role as decimals for our Bits. In his words: “There is something poetic about a bitcoin being made of bits. And the atom and unit of account of digital commodity money being a “bit” but having decimals under it for bitcents (or sats) helps give accurate/unrounded pricing.”
In conclusion, I think it is great to bring to light anything that can help facilitate Bitcoin understanding. Sometimes a simple change can make a magnificent difference. Thank you, Adam, for your awesome observation and I will move on spreading the word while bitting bits of the big Bitcoin pie.
Do not hesitate to bite few bits.
Ps: Quick curiosity about this text… It has been corrected by Adam Back himself and love that it inspired a new topic of conversation. If curious stop by his thread! Love this amazing exchange of ideas, it is what decentralization is all about! Honored.
Link: https://twitter.com/adam3us/status/1335638814426083335?s=20
Originally published at https://www.mammycrypto.com on December 7, 2020.
