"0.00000001 BTC doesn't work!"
Giacomo Zucco talked about Unit of Account at Lightning Summit 2023, the fractional Bitcoin problem and the need to universalize a standard symbol for the sat. I.e, 1 satoshi. Maybe it is mainly cosmetic, but for Bitcoin, forming a standard could have the possibility to solidify ideas on accounting and the representation of units through simplifying information. Ultimately, the hope would be that this can positively create a cohesive system of account and bring a higher level of standardisation for the protocol.
So what should become the standard sat symbol, the ubiquitous ⚡ bolt zap? I think it captures that function well but to me seems to point to LNP only (not my transaction fees, for example.) The alternative is the 'doner kebab'. It was also based on existing unicode mathematical operators ≐ 'approaching the limit' and ≑ 'geometrically equal to' and the simplified Chinese character 丰 (bountiful/lush/abundant.)
Personally, I feel the satsymbol has already entered my lexicon. I like the way it draws on existing ideography. There is a fontawesome fontawesome webkit which is great for design purposes, but as ₿ (U+20BF) is an official unicode sign (currencies section) there needs to be a satoshi denomination. Most major currencies can be typed and have a representational unicode sign, not just represented with an embeddable font, svg or similar (as helpful as that is.) I wanted to see how it might look for a global userbase with different localizations. However, the only way I found to transliterate it with unicode was to reorient the symbol 90 degrees.
Weird? What about ·|||· or ·///· ? Well, was just an idea. Below is a (hopefully formatted) table of my take on the satsymbol in current unicode. Most characters are phonetic particles, punctuation or numbers (so would be a very small chance that anything would be meaningful based on the original characters.) It's not an exhaustive list of character sets or syllabries, just examples. I think that in an optical sense, some work and some don't work as well. If you have any thoughts, comment, or send a message on Nostr.
| CHARACTER SET | SATSYMBOL | UNICODE |
|---|---|---|
| ARROWS | ⎯⏐⏐⏐⎯ | H. LINE EXTENSION, V. LINE EXTENSION |
| BULLETS | ・﹅﹅﹅・ | KATAKANA MIDDLE DOT, SESAME DOT |
| LATIN | -lll- | HYPHEN-MINUS*, SMALL LETTER L |
| MATHS SYMBOLS | ⦁∕∕∕⦁ | Z NOTATION SPOT, DIVISION SLASH |
| GREEK | ·ΙΙΙ· | ANO TELEIA, LETTER IOTA |
| CYRILLIC | -ꙆꙆꙆ- | HYPHEN-MINUS*, CAPITAL LETTER IOTA |
| GEOMETIC SHAPES | -▕▕▕ - | WHITE CIRCLE, RIGHT ONE EIGHTH BLOCK |
| DUPLOYAN | 𛰀𛰇𛰇𛰇𛰀 | DUPLOYAN LETTER H, LETTER B |
| TECHNICAL SYMBOLS | ⏤⎹⎹⎹⏤ | STRAIGHTNESS, L/R VERT BOX LINE |
| COPTIC | -Ⲽ- | HYPHEN-MINUS*, CAP CRYPTOGRAMMIC NI |
| BALINESE | ᭼᭞᭞᭞᭼ | MUSICAL SYMBOL LH OPEN PING, CARIK SIKI |
| JAPANESE | ・〳〳〳・ | MIDDLE DOT, VERT KANA REPEAT MARK UPPER HALF |
| KANBUN | ㆒㆐㆐㆐㆒ | IDEOG. ANN. ONE MARK, IDEOG. AN.. LINKING MARK |
| VAI | ꔷ꘡꘡꘡ꔷ | VAI DIGIT ONE, VAI SYLLABLE LI |
| ETHIOPIC | ᎐᎖᎖᎖᎐ | TONAL MARK YIZET, TONAL MARK CHIRET |
| OSMANYA | ·𐒃𐒃𐒃· | MIDDLE DOT, OSMANYA LETTER JA |
| CAN ABORIGINAL | ‘ᐟᐟᐟ’ | LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK*, SYLLABICS FINAL RING |
| KHUDAWADI | 𑋰𑋠𑋠𑋠𑋰 | DIGIT ZERO, VOWEL SIGN AA |
| MODI | 𑙐𑙁𑙁𑙁𑙐 | DIGIT ZERO, DANDA |
| MAHAJANI | 𑇐𑇅𑇅𑇅𑇐 | SHARADA DIGIT ZERO, SHARADA DANDA |
| MALAYALAM | ·ഽഽഽ· | MIDDLE DOT*, SIGN AVAGRAHA |
| MRO | ·𖩙𖩙𖩙· | MIDDLE DOT*, MRO LETTER KO |
| PHAGS-PA | ·꡶꡶꡶· | MIDDLE DOT*, PHAGS-PA MARK SHAD |
| TAMIL | ௦///௦ | DIGIT ZERO, SOLIDUS* |
| TELUGU | ౼౹౹౹౼ | FRACTION/EVEN POW OF 4, FRACTION/ODD POW OF 4 |
| TIBETAN | ༚།།།༚ | SIGN RDEL DKAR GCIG, MARK SHAD |
| BUGINESE | ·᨞᨞᨞· | MIDDLE DOT*, PALLAWA |
| BUHID | ·ᝐᝐᝐ· | MIDDLE DOT*, LETTER RA |
| PUNCTUATION | ⸰\\⸰ | RINGPOINT, REVERSE SOLIDUS |
| JAVANESE | ꧆꧊꧊꧊꧆ | PADA WINDU, PADA ADEG |
| REJANG | ꥟ꤷꤷꤷ꥟ | SECTION MARK, LETTER BA |
| LISU | ꓸꓲꓲꓲꓸ | TONE MYA TI, LETTER I |
| HAN RADICALS | ·⼂⼂⼂· | MIDDLE DOT, KANGXI RADICAL DOT |
| HANGUL MARKS | ㆍㅣㅣㅣㆍ | LETTER ARAEA, JUNGSEONG I |
| BOX DRAWINGS | ╸╱╱╱╺ | HEAVY RIGHT, LIGHT DIAGONAL UPPER R TO LOWER L |
| ELBASAN | ·𐔎𐔎𐔎· | MIDDLE DOT*, LETTER JE |
| BRAILLE | ⠂⠇⠇⠇⠂ | BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-2, BRAILLE PATTERN DOTS-123 |
| ARABIC | ٠١١١٠ | INDIC DIGIT ZERO, INDIC DIGIT ONE |
| AVASTAN | 𐬹𐬰𐬰𐬰𐬹 | AVESTAN ABBREVIATION MARK, AVESTAN LETTER ZE |
| MANDAIC | ࡀࡆࡆࡆࡀ | MANDAIC LETTER HALQA, MANDAIC LETTER AZ |
| SAMARITAN | ࠾࠼࠼࠼࠾ | SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION ANNAAU, SAMARITAN PUNCTUATION |
| BENGALI | ·৲৲৲· | MIDDLE DOT*, BENGALI RUPEE MARK |
| CHAKMA | ·𑅁𑅁𑅁· | MIDDLE DOT*, DANDA |
| BRAHMI | 𑁦𑁇𑁇𑁇𑁦 | BRAHMI DIGIT ZERO, BRAHMI DANDA |
| CARIAN | -𐊦𐊦𐊦- | HYPHEN-MINUS*, CARIAN LETTER LD |
| CUNEIFORM | 𒊹///𒊹 | CUNEIFORM SIGN SHAR2, SOLIDUS* |
| KAITHI | 𑂻𑂝𑂻 | KAITHI ABBREVIATION SIGN, KAITHI LETTER NNA |
| IMPERIAL ARA | -𐡘𐡘𐡘- | HYPHEN-MINUS*, IMPERIAL ARAMAIC NUMBER ONE |
| INSCRIPTIONAL PAHLAVI | ·𐭺· | MIDDLE DOT*, NUMBER THREE |
| INSCRIPTIONAL PARTHIAN | ·𐭚· | MIDDLE DOT*, NUMBER THREE |
| LEPCHA | ·᰻᰻᰻· | MIDDLE DOT*, LEPCHA PUNCTUATION TA-ROL |
| GLAGOLITIC | ·ⰬⰬⰬ· | MIDDLE DOT*, CAPITAL LETTER SHTAPIC |
| GOTHIC | 𐍈𐌹𐌹𐌹𐍈 | LETTER HWAIR, LETTER EIS |
| OGHAM | 。ᚋᚋᚋ 。 | IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP, OGHAM LETTER MUIN |
| OLD HUNGARIAN | 𐳣𐳥𐳥𐳥𐳣 | SMALL LETTER SHORT ER, SMALL LETTER ESZ |
| OLD ITALIC | ·𐌠𐌠𐌠· | MIDDLE DOT*, OLD ITALIC NUMERAL ONE |
| OLD NORTH ARABIAN | 𐪞𐪝𐪝𐪝𐪞 | NUMBER TEN, NUMBER ONE |
| MEETAI MAYEK | -꫰꫰꫰- | HYPHEN-MINUS*, MEETEI MAYEK CHEIKHAN |
| PHENECIAN | 𐤟𐤖𐤖𐤖𐤟 | WORD SEPARATOR, NUMBER ONE |
ASTERISK* denotes characters which are non-native to the character set: Hyphen, Middle Dot, Solidus (Back Slash) and Left Single Quotation Mark
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Thanks for reading. Stay pleb.
