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There is no official Bitcoin symbol as of December 2010, however the ''BTC'' abbreviation is the most universally accepted form.
[[File:Btc-sans.png|thumb|128px|The prevailing Bitcoin symbol]]By far the most commonly used symbol for Bitcoin is [[:{{ns:File}}:Btc-sans.png|{{BTC}}]], a capital letter '''B''' with two falling strokes at the top and bottom. This symbol was designed by [[Satoshi Nakamoto]] for the icon of an early version of the [[reference client|original Bitcoin client]], though the very first versions of the Bitcoin client used "BC" instead of any special symbol. Presumably the symbol was intended to look similar to other currency symbols. The symbol represents the currency [[Units|unit]] "bitcoin" (100 million [[Satoshi (unit)|satoshi]]), as well as the Bitcoin network and currency itself. The bitcoin currency unit is also commonly given the informal currency code '''BTC'''.


== Unicode symbol ==
The Bitcoin sign is part of Unicode 10.0 (released June 2017)<ref name="uc">http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode10.0.0/</ref> with code point U+20BF (₿). As of June 2017, font support for the Bitcoin sign is in macOS Sierra, iOS, Android O [https://developer.android.com/preview/download.html beta], Windows 10 [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/instantanswers/d4efb316-79f0-1aa1-9ef3-dcada78f3fa0/get-the-windows-10-creators-update Creators Update]  and several Linux releases. After being rejected in 2011,<ref>http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11129-bitcoin.pdf</ref> the Bitcoin sign was accepted for Unicode in November 2015<ref>https://twitter.com/ken_lunde/status/661351862155669506</ref> and first appeared in Unicode 10.0 in 2017.<ref name="uc"/>


There is a discussion over [http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=369.0 which Unicode symbol might be the best suited] for bitcoin.
Historically, similar looking Unicode symbols such as the Thai Baht (฿) have been used because the Unicode standard at the time had not included a symbol for Bitcoin. The capital letter B with stroke (Ƀ) was also used in contexts where it was likely that using the Baht symbol would cause confusion.


To type Unicode characters, refer to:
== Currency code ==
The [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/ISO_4217 ISO 4217 currency code] for Bitcoin is '''XBT'''. However, at the moment it is an [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/ISO_4217#Without_currency_code unofficial code] according to the ISO 4217 standard. The unit name '''BTC''' is also commonly used to represent one bitcoin, but it violates ISO 4217 because it begins with "BT", the country code of Bhutan. Bhutan does not actually use the code BTC for any currency, and XBT has not yet defined which unit it represents (just that it represents ''some'' unit of bitcoin), so the Bitcoin community is likely to continue using mainly BTC as a unit name and currency code for some time.


* [[Microsoft Windows Unicode Input]]
A [http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-foundation-standardise-bitcoin-symbol-code-next-year/ formal application] by the Financial Standards Working Group of the [[Bitcoin Foundation]] is nearing completion.<sup>[still true?]</sup> This application would request ISO 4217 standard to support XBT.
* [[How to easily type the circled B symbol on a Mac]]


It has led to the following options:
== Inserting the symbol ==
In lieu of the Bitcoin symbol being included in the Unicode standard and its adoption into typographic fonts, {{BTC}} can be included in many documents by other means.  This section focuses on online publications but the basic concepts apply to all publishing forms.


{| class="wikitable sortable"
==== Image ====
|-
The Bitcoin symbol can be inserted as an image, as is done in the opening sentence of this page.  The benefit of this method is that any client that can display images in line with text will be able to display the symbol. The down side to this method is that as an image, it does not always degrade as nicely as a font.  If using raster image, scaling the image up/down (to fit with surrounding text) may result in pixelation, inappropriate filtering, and other issues typical of raster images.  If using a vector image, scaling concerns do not apply but the display would still not benefit from font-specific rendering features such as [[wikipedia:hinting|hinting]]. Both forms also suffer from client-specific considerations such as whether or not a box will be drawn around the image and the general inability to easily style its display; applying color requires specific CSS, and italicizing would require a CSS skew transform, for example.
! Proposed character !! Description & Pros & Cons !! Unicode name !! Unicode decimal input !! Unicode hex input
 
|-
When using an image in running text on a webpage it's generally a good idea to set the ''alt'' property to an appropriate value. For example, when depicting amounts you might use ''alt="BTC"''. Text including the symbol copied and pasted will then remain syntactically correct, replacing the symbol with BTC.
| ฿ ||
 
* Pros: Gives a currency-like look (it is the symbol for an existing currency, the Thai Baht, but other currency symbols often get reused, like the $); displayed correctly on all known OSes
Sample HTML code:
* Cons: It is already used for the Thai currency, and might confuse people
  <nowiki>
|| THAI CURRENCY SYMBOL BAHT || || Alt +0E3F
  .btc { height:1em; position:relative; top:0.17em; cursor:text; }
|-
   ...
| Ⓑ ||
  Please send <img src="btc-sans.png" alt="BTC" class="btc" />0.01 to ...
*Pros: Similar to current bitcoin.org logo
  Please send <img src="btc-sans.svg" alt="BTC" class="btc" />0.01 to ...</nowiki>
|| CIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B || || Alt +24B7
 
|-
==== Font Awesome icon ====
| B⃫ ||
The Font Awesome collection of icons and symbols also includes the Bitcoin symbol.<ref>http://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/icon/btc/</ref>
|| LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B + COMBINING LONG DOUBLE SOLIDUS OVERLAY || U+0042 U+20EB
 
|-
Sample HTML code:
| B⃦ ||
  <nowiki> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.4.0/css/font-awesome.min.css">
|| LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B + COMBINING DOUBLE VERTICAL STROKE OVERLAY || U+0042 U+20E6
...
|-
  Please send <i class="fa fa-btc"></i>0.01 to ...</nowiki>
| ⓑ ||
 
*Pros: Small b represent the unit bit in computer where capital B is Byte
==== Font ====
* Cons: Small fonts are harder to read
As few fonts include the Bitcoin symbol, a special font was created by [[User:Theymos|Theymos]], originally for the [[BitcoinTalk]] forum.<ref>https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88647</ref> The font consists of only the Bitcoin symbol ({{BTC}}) used in the glyph for the capital letter B. The text "BTC" can be entered and styled with this font, causing it to be replaced entirely with just the symbol on those systems that support this font, while on other systems the text "BTC" is retained. Similarly, copying and pasting text will still retain "BTC". This method is used on BitcoinTalk and the Bitcoin Wiki.
|| CIRCLED LATIN SMALL LETTER B || ||Alt +24D1
 
|-
Sample HTML code:
|ᴃ|| || LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL BARRED B || ||Alt +1D03
  <nowiki> @font-face { font-family: BTC; src: url(BTC.ttf); }
|-
  ...
|Ƀ|| || LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B WITH STROKE || ||Alt +0243
Please send <span style="font-family:BTC, sans-serif">BTC</span>0.01 to ...</nowiki>
|-
 
|B⃦|| ||  || ||
==See Also==
|-
 
|␢|| || (Unicode Block: Control Pictures) BLANK SYMBOL (graphic for space) || || Alt +2422
* [[Promotional graphics]]
|-
 
|-
==References==
| 币 || pronounced "bi", combines "b", turned "c" and "T", many Chinese users, also 网民币 - Wangminbi, "The Netizen's Currency" (pun on Renminbi) || Chinese for "Currency" || || U+5E01
<references/>
|-
 
| β ||
[[Category:Introduction]]
*Pros: Fluid look and easy to write; Lowercase
|| GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA || ||Alt +03B2
|-
|¤|| || CURRENCY SIGN ||Alt 0164 ||Alt +00A4
|-
|Ƅ|| || LATIN CAPITAL LETTER TONE SIX || ||Alt +0184
|-
|∄|| || (Unicode Block: Mathematical Operators) THERE DOES NOT EXIST || ||Alt +2204
|-
|ઘ|| || GUJARATI LETTER GHA (Indo-Aryan language) || ||Alt +0A98
|-
|ϭ|| || (Unicode Block: Greek and Coptic) COPTIC SMALL LETTER SHIMA || ||Alt +03ED
|-
| ɸ || contains 0 and I || Greek small Theta || || U+0278
|-
| ∆ || delta for "digital"  || Greek capital Delta ||  || U+0394
|-
|[[Image:Bitcoin Symbol Suggestion circled struck-through B.png|20px]]||
* Cons: Does not exist in the Unicode standard
||   || ||
|-
|[[Image:Bitcoin Symbol Suggestion rotated power.png|20px]]||
* Cons: Does not exist in the Unicode standard
||  || ||
|-
|ⓢ|| Purposed as a smaller unit of bitcoin. E.g. A hundredth of a bitcoin || CIRCLED LATIN SMALL LETTER S  || || Alt +24E2
|-
|≡ || three bars like three bits || || || Alt + 240
|-
|[[Image:Bat.png|32x32px|alt=The b'at]]
the b'at
||
* Pros: Is round like a coin. Contains the B for Bitcoin. Borrows a style widelly associated with the internet. Not used for other meanings.
* Cons: Does not exist in the Unicode standard
||  || ||
|-
|A 'C' with '1' and '0' inside [[http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/8840/bitcoinlogodraft.png]]||
* Cons: Does not exist in the Unicode standard
  ||  || ||
|-
|A 'C' with a 'circle' and 'dot' inside [[http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/6006/bitcoinlogodraftii.png]]||
* Cons: Does not exist in the Unicode standard
  ||  || ||
|-
| ◪|| || (Unicode Block: Geometric Shapes) SQUARE WITH LOWER RIGHT DIAGONAL HALF BLACK  || || Alt +25EA
|-
|[[http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-61/2381unicode1s.png]][[http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-61/162bitcoin_uni_s.png]]||
* Cons: Does not exist in the Unicode standard
  || || ||
|-
|☺|| ||WHITE SMILING FACE|| || Alt +263A
|-
|☻|| ||BLACK SMILING FACE|| || Alt +263B
|-
|㋡|| ||CIRCLED KATAKANA TU' (Japanese)|| || Alt +32E1
|-
| || ||  || ||
|}

Latest revision as of 15:52, 25 April 2019

The prevailing Bitcoin symbol

By far the most commonly used symbol for Bitcoin is ₿, a capital letter B with two falling strokes at the top and bottom. This symbol was designed by Satoshi Nakamoto for the icon of an early version of the original Bitcoin client, though the very first versions of the Bitcoin client used "BC" instead of any special symbol. Presumably the symbol was intended to look similar to other currency symbols. The symbol represents the currency unit "bitcoin" (100 million satoshi), as well as the Bitcoin network and currency itself. The bitcoin currency unit is also commonly given the informal currency code BTC.

The Bitcoin sign is part of Unicode 10.0 (released June 2017)[1] with code point U+20BF (₿). As of June 2017, font support for the Bitcoin sign is in macOS Sierra, iOS, Android O beta, Windows 10 Creators Update and several Linux releases. After being rejected in 2011,[2] the Bitcoin sign was accepted for Unicode in November 2015[3] and first appeared in Unicode 10.0 in 2017.[1]

Historically, similar looking Unicode symbols such as the Thai Baht (฿) have been used because the Unicode standard at the time had not included a symbol for Bitcoin. The capital letter B with stroke (Ƀ) was also used in contexts where it was likely that using the Baht symbol would cause confusion.

Currency code

The ISO 4217 currency code for Bitcoin is XBT. However, at the moment it is an unofficial code according to the ISO 4217 standard. The unit name BTC is also commonly used to represent one bitcoin, but it violates ISO 4217 because it begins with "BT", the country code of Bhutan. Bhutan does not actually use the code BTC for any currency, and XBT has not yet defined which unit it represents (just that it represents some unit of bitcoin), so the Bitcoin community is likely to continue using mainly BTC as a unit name and currency code for some time.

A formal application by the Financial Standards Working Group of the Bitcoin Foundation is nearing completion.[still true?] This application would request ISO 4217 standard to support XBT.

Inserting the symbol

In lieu of the Bitcoin symbol being included in the Unicode standard and its adoption into typographic fonts, ₿ can be included in many documents by other means. This section focuses on online publications but the basic concepts apply to all publishing forms.

Image

The Bitcoin symbol can be inserted as an image, as is done in the opening sentence of this page. The benefit of this method is that any client that can display images in line with text will be able to display the symbol. The down side to this method is that as an image, it does not always degrade as nicely as a font. If using raster image, scaling the image up/down (to fit with surrounding text) may result in pixelation, inappropriate filtering, and other issues typical of raster images. If using a vector image, scaling concerns do not apply but the display would still not benefit from font-specific rendering features such as hinting. Both forms also suffer from client-specific considerations such as whether or not a box will be drawn around the image and the general inability to easily style its display; applying color requires specific CSS, and italicizing would require a CSS skew transform, for example.

When using an image in running text on a webpage it's generally a good idea to set the alt property to an appropriate value. For example, when depicting amounts you might use alt="BTC". Text including the symbol copied and pasted will then remain syntactically correct, replacing the symbol with BTC.

Sample HTML code: 

 .btc { height:1em; position:relative; top:0.17em; cursor:text; }
  ...
  Please send <img src="btc-sans.png" alt="BTC" class="btc" />0.01 to ...
  Please send <img src="btc-sans.svg" alt="BTC" class="btc" />0.01 to ...

Font Awesome icon

The Font Awesome collection of icons and symbols also includes the Bitcoin symbol.[4]

Sample HTML code: 

 <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.4.0/css/font-awesome.min.css">
 ...
 Please send <i class="fa fa-btc"></i>0.01 to ...

Font

As few fonts include the Bitcoin symbol, a special font was created by Theymos, originally for the BitcoinTalk forum.[5] The font consists of only the Bitcoin symbol (₿) used in the glyph for the capital letter B. The text "BTC" can be entered and styled with this font, causing it to be replaced entirely with just the symbol on those systems that support this font, while on other systems the text "BTC" is retained. Similarly, copying and pasting text will still retain "BTC". This method is used on BitcoinTalk and the Bitcoin Wiki.

Sample HTML code: 

 @font-face { font-family: BTC; src: url(BTC.ttf); }
 ...
 Please send <span style="font-family:BTC, sans-serif">BTC</span>0.01 to ...

See Also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode10.0.0/
  2. ↑ http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11129-bitcoin.pdf
  3. ↑ https://twitter.com/ken_lunde/status/661351862155669506
  4. ↑ http://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/icon/btc/
  5. ↑ https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88647
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