After bouncing around between ten and twenty thousand USD, is it time to revisit the default measure of Bitcoin? Does it still make sense to measure BTC in the same traditional way? After all, we don't buy gold in kilograms or pounds (well, some of us don’t buy gold at all). Gold is $40,000/kg! How many kilograms would you like?
Satoshi Nakamoto meet Homer Simpson
The Bitcoin purist may argue that you don't need to buy ONE bitcoin, almost any fraction is permissible: 0.001 BTC for $11 USD, 0.012 BTC for $132. Yet, some of the most logical people I know are compelled to own Bitcoin and alt-coins in round numbers (a touch of OCD or innate human psychology?). People generally have a hard time with fractions and 0.01 BTC can seem like a trivial amount. Why bother? A buck for 10,000 Satoshi, now that’s a bargain!
Although you can find countless studies that explore our number biases, you don't need a PhD in psychology to know that visualizing 12 apples is a lot easier than visualizing 0.012 of an apple. For the average person, one has meaning; while the other is borderline meaningless.
Grams of Bitcoin?
$11 for a milliBitcoin (mBTC) or should we call that a gram? Aren't the marijuana alt-coins sold in grams? What about an ounce of Bitcoin (1/16)? That'll be $687 please. This article from Coindesk calls for the mathematically reasonable, and psychologically accessible, "bit" (1 bit being a millionth of a bitcoin). At the current price of $11,000/BTC a 1 bit would only cost $0.011. But wouldn't Bitcoin lose its prestige if sold by the bit? The psychological barrier we have with decimals, is beginning to make Bitcoin a thing of the rich and famous (come for a ride on my yacht and I’ll show you my Bitcoin wallet). Can't keep up with the Jones'? Buy some Litecoin!
What do you think the Bitcoin measure should be?
Or should we be having this conversation when transaction fees are no longer hundreds of thousands of bits?
