“Official” models of bitcoin
To my information, solely the bitcoin and the satoshi are “formally” named models of bitcoin.
As of 2014/2015, one additionally usually sees bit as a moniker for one microbitcoin, i.e. 100 satoshis.
BTC has been used because the abbreviation for bitcoin for a very long time, but, in September bitcoin was added to ISO 4217, as XBT, the place X means not related to a rustic, simply as in XAG (Silver) and XAU (Gold), and against nationwide currencies, e.g. USD (US Greenback). Nonetheless, it appears to me that XBT has not been adopted by the neighborhood, BTC stays prevalent.
Origin of millibitcoin and microbitcoin
Millibitcoin and microbitcoin comply with the conventions of the Worldwide System of Models, and thus are derived from the principle unit bitcoin with a prepended “m” for millibitcoin and a prepended “μ” for microbitcoin.
Following the identical conventions and ranging from the frequent abbreviation BTC for bitcoin, one would use mBTC and μBTC.
Millibit and microbit are complicated
Whereas often individuals will perceive the which means, utilizing the abbreviations “millibit” or “microbit” gives the look that they’re assiociated with bit as the principle unit. That is particularly complicated with the arrival of bit as a nickname for microbitcoins.
“bit”
Bit is a horrible title for 2 causes: Bit, the binary digit, is the fundamental unit of knowledge. It’s used so much within the context of something associated with computer systems and subsequently should not be doubled as a subunit of bitcoin. Second, resulting from individuals utilizing “millibit” and “microbit” it’s terribly complicated to anybody that’s new to Bitcoin, however aware of the Worldwide System of Models.
Millie and Mike
“Millie” and “Mike” had been proposed nicknames for millibitcoin and microbitcoin, however I have never seen them get a lot utilization. I do not suppose that they are going to see adoption.
Models in English
Basically currencies should not capitalized in English, not like the title of the protocol. So, you’d write concerning the Bitcoin protocol, however 5 bitcoins.
Overview
I’d argue for the next utilization of models:
Unit Worth in bitcoins Worth in satoshis Abbreviation
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bitcoin 1.0 100,000,000 BTC
millibitcoin 0.001 100,000 mBTC
microbitcoin 0.000001 100 μBTC
bit 0.000001 100 bit
satoshi 0.00000001 1 satoshi