Bitcoin Developer Proposes Redefining Units to Boost Adoption

Bitcoin, the world's first cryptocurrency, has long faced the challenge of achieving mass adoption. While the community focuses on improving user experience, developing custody solutions, and engaging with legislators and institutions, a core Bitcoin developer and CEO of Synonym, John Carvalho, has proposed a simpler solution: deprecating satoshis and removing the decimals to reduce the cognitive load.

In a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) released in December 2024, Carvalho argues that eliminating the term 'satoshi' and removing the decimal points by changing satoshi for bitcoin would have a dual benefit: making Bitcoin easier to understand and removing unit bias, both key to attracting new users. Currently, one bitcoin is made up of 100 million tiny pieces called “base units” or satoshis, which cannot be divided further. Carvalho’s proposal suggests redefining “bitcoin” to refer to this smallest unit. Under this system, what we now call “1 bitcoin” would instead be referred to as “100 million bitcoins.”

For example, a transaction currently displayed as 0.00010000 BTC would become 10,000 bitcoins in the new system, and 10.23486 BTC would be displayed as 1,023,486,000 bitcoins, redefining the concept of bitcoin millionaires. However, the Bitcoin community is notoriously resistant to change, and Carvalho’s proposal has met considerable resistance since its introduction at the end of last year. Podcast host Stephan Livera mocked the idea on X, likening it to calling each slice of pizza a whole pizza. Viral Bits founder Daniel Sempere Pico joked about how triggered people get by the proposal, while other community members voiced concerns about changing the total supply from 21 million to 2.1 quadrillion bitcoins, seeing the original supply as a core principle of Bitcoin’s identity.

Despite the resistance, there may be a slim chance that Carvalho’s proposal is growing on people. He posted on X on April 25, 2025, stating that a lot more people are becoming interested in the idea of calling the base units of Bitcoin bitcoins, and removing the decimal. Carvalho appears to be on an all-out campaign, borrowing Trump’s MAGA slogan and filling his X page with pictures of well-known figures from the global economic community, including Satoshi, Klaus Schwab, and Ursula von der Leyen donning red caps with the slogan “Make Satoshi Bitcoin Again.”

Whether the proposal gathers more momentum remains to be seen. But the ongoing debate highlights how even the most minimal of adjustments could make Bitcoin more palatable to the masses. The proposal underscores the ongoing efforts within the Bitcoin community to find ways to make the cryptocurrency more accessible and understandable to a broader audience, potentially paving the way for greater adoption and integration into mainstream financial systems.