‘Sats’ vs ‘bits’ debate reignites amid proposal to change Bitcoin base unit
Block Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey was among those supporting a proposal to remove satoshis as Bitcoin’s base unit, but others strongly oppose the change.
A recent proposal that aims to change Bitcoin’s base unit to make it easier to understand as a payment tool has run into opposition, with critics saying Bitcoin’s satoshis are no more confusing than the dollar’s cents.
Bitcoin developer John Carvalho introduced Bitcoin Improvement Proposal-177 on April 23, which seeks to eliminate the concept of satoshis, of which there are 100,000,000 in 1 Bitcoin (BTC), and effectively split Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million into 21 quadrillion units.
It follows a 2017 proposal from Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song to create “bits,” representing one-millionth of 1 Bitcoin. However, Carvalho said Song’s approach would still require Bitcoin users to think about decimals and “shifts complexity rather than eliminating it.”
