I was reading an article today that suggests that it is time there was a symbol for the smallest, indivisible unit of Bitcoin, a Satoshi.
The argument is not new; it has been made every since I've got into Bitcoin. It is also not one I completely disagree with.
As I wrote in a previous post, in the next bull market it will start making sense to start thinking of Bitcoin in a smaller unit. As the dollar price of Bitcoin goes up, it starts to get tendency to deal in fractions of Bitcoins when transactionibg everyday amounts.
However I think it will be too soon to start thinking in Satoshis.
For me, greater use of mBTC (milliBitcoin) would be the first step. A mBTC is one thousandth of a Bitcoin. Or $10 at today's prices.
So much of retail investing hinges on psychology.
In that regard picking up handfuls of mBTC over time with a view to accumulating 1000 (thus 1 Bitcoin) registers as an easier task than picking up several one thousandths of a bitcoin to achieve the same end.
Also it will get people thinking in terms of the mBTC they hold rather than the dollar price. Right now it would easier to say you hold $10s worth of bitcoin than 0.001 bitcoin. Saying you hold 1 or 2 mBTC OR 350 mBTC is easier to conceptualise..
I'm not too worry about the prices of sandwich being priced in BTC, mBTC or Satoshis anytime soon. We are a long way away from BTC being a widely adopted medium of exchange.
However as a store of value, the Bitcoin use case is strong. And to that end, it is far easier to keep track of wealth in whole units than fractions.
Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay