Unusual Proposal Offered for Bitcoin: "1 Satoshi Shall Now Be 1 BTC"

Bitcoin advocate John Carvalho has proposed a new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) aiming to fundamentally redefine how Bitcoin is measured and represented. The proposal suggests replacing the current system, where one Bitcoin (BTC) equals 100 million satoshis (sats), with a simpler structure that makes satoshi the new base unit.

According to Carvalho's plan, 'one Bitcoin' will no longer represent the larger unit of BTC as we know it today. Instead, it will refer to the indivisible smallest unit of Bitcoin, currently called satoshi, which is equivalent to one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin. This redefinition will facilitate the reading and understanding of values by eliminating the need for a decimal point in Bitcoin transactions.

For example, a transaction currently displayed as 0.00010000 BTC will appear as 10.000 BTC in the proposed system.

Carvalho argues that this change will reduce confusion, make Bitcoin's appearance compatible with the integrated protocol, and make the crypto currency system more user-friendly for newcomers. Carvalho, who says 'Decimal point is just a human-imposed abstraction,' claims that Bitcoin's technical framework supports this change.

Carvalho's proposal is not the first to address Bitcoin's unit structure. In 2017, prominent Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song introduced BIP 176, which advocated the use of "bits" as a standard value. This would allow users to avoid confusing fractional BTC screens when dealing with smaller transactions. However, this idea was never widely adopted.

Critics warn that redefining Bitcoin's unit structure could pose challenges for wallets, exchanges, and other platforms built around the existing system. Additionally, such changes may confuse existing users and increase the risk of transaction errors during the transition period.