1 BTC = 100 million bits? What exactly is Bitcoin Improvement Proposal BIP 177?

If BIP 177 passes, your 1 BTC will become 100,000,000 bitcoins? (Synopsis: Indonesian technology company DigiAsia plans to raise "$100 million in bitcoin", and its stock price soars 91% in a single day) (Background supplement: Hong Kong's "DayDayCook" sweeps bitcoin!) The parent company intends to buy 5,000 BTC in three years) In the Bitcoin ecosystem, the BIP 177 proposal is sparking a discussion about Bitcoin's unit of account, how it is displayed, and the nature of the user experience. This improvement proposal attempts to fundamentally reshape the way we perceive and use Bitcoin. In addition, Satoshi Nakamoto also mentioned early on that if there is a massive deflation of Bitcoin in the future, the software may show more decimal places. BIP 177 echoes this line of thinking. What is BIP 177? BIP 177 (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 177) is a Bitcoin-specific improvement proposal that aims to redefine the unit of account and display of Bitcoin. The core idea of BIP 177 is to make the amount of Bitcoin more intuitive and understandable by eliminating the decimal point display, thereby lowering the barrier to entry for new users and promoting the popularity of Bitcoin in everyday payments. The proposal was first proposed by Bitcoin enthusiast and Synonym CEO John Carvalho (@BitcoinErrorLog) on December 10, 2024, when the BitcoinAndLightningLayerSpecs/balls repository hosted on GitHub had not yet been assigned a BIP number. On May 8, the draft BIP 177 proposal was officially merged and added to the Bitcoin BIP list. BIP-0177 is currently in the draft stage and has not yet been formally adopted, and community discussions are ongoing. Specifically, BIP 177 proposes to redefine the smallest indivisible unit of Bitcoin (1 BTC = 100,000,000 base units) as "1 bitcoin", so that 1 BTC is now equal to 100 million new "bitcoins". This change only concerns the way the UI is displayed and does not make any material changes to the consensus rules of Bitcoin (BTC), the total limit of 21 million coins, or the underlying logic of the blockchain ledger. What is the purpose of the BIP 177 proposal? The main purpose of BIP 177 is to simplify the user experience of Bitcoin and solve the confusion caused by the current way units are displayed. Remove the complexity that comes with the decimal point: The current price of Bitcoin is usually displayed in BTC. Small transactions, such as buying a cup of coffee, can involve numbers like 0.0001 BTC, with eight decimal places confusing for new users. BIP 177 proposes to use the smallest indivisible unit as the base unit, so that the amount is displayed as an integer (such as 100 bitcoin instead of 0.000001 BTC), which is more intuitive for everyday monetary use. Educational value: Newcomers can directly understand Bitcoin as a discrete unit, not a "divisible decimal currency." Lower barriers to entry for new users: Many people are unfamiliar with the term "satoshis" and have difficulty understanding the conversion relationship of 1 BTC = 100 million satoshis. By redefining "bitcoin" as the smallest unit, BIP 177 hopes to make Bitcoin more understandable and acceptable to ordinary users, especially in the context of high prices. What are the pros and cons of BIP 177? Potential benefits Simplified user experience: Displaying amounts in whole numbers, such as 100 bitcoin instead of 0.000001 BTC, is more intuitive and reduces confusion for new users with decimal points. Facilitating Bitcoin's daily use: By making microtransactions easier to understand, BIP 177 is expected to promote Bitcoin's adoption in micropayments and enhance its utility as a currency. This can also motivate more merchants to accept Bitcoin and form a circular economy. Consistent with protocol logic: The proposal makes the UI appear closer to the integer arithmetic of the Bitcoin protocol, reducing the complexity of artificial conventions and increasing technical transparency. Low-risk tweaking: BIP 177 does not involve consensus rule changes, no hard forks or upgrades to miner nodes, only wallet and exchange UI adjustments. This means that implementation costs are lower and there is less risk. Expanding the user base: By lowering the psychological and cognitive barriers, BIP 177 may attract more ordinary users to the Bitcoin ecosystem, especially in developing countries or groups unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies. Potential Disadvantages and Challenges Community acceptance challenges: The Bitcoin community's perception of "Bitcoin" as a standard unit is deeply entrenched, and changing the name of the unit can cause controversy. Some users believe that "sats" is already a community consensus, and redefining "bitcoin" may be seen as an unnecessary complication. Confusion during the transition period: In the early days of BIP 177, different wallets and platforms may adopt different unit display methods (some use new bitcoins, some continue to use BTC or sats), which may lead to user confusion and even malicious exploitation. Cultural inertia: The "satoshis" culture and terminology that is prevalent in the community may be affected. Limited practical impact: Some critics argue that the change in unit display will have a limited effect on driving Bitcoin's popularity. Bottlenecks in the user experience may come more from transaction fees, confirmation times, or the ease of use of the wallet than from the unit name. If it passes, how will it be handled? If BIP 177 is adopted, the overall conversion rules are that the Bitcoin ledger and consensus rules remain unchanged. BTC remains unchanged as a currency code. Implementations using the new standard must multiply the original bitcoin value by 100 million and convert it to integer form. Specifically: Unit redefinition: The base unit remains unchanged. Original 1 bitcoin = 100,000,000 base units; Under the new definition, 1 bitcoin = 1 base unit. Terminology change: Satoshi or SAT will be deprecated. All interfaces, files, and displays should refer directly to the base unit as "bitcoin". "BTC" is not affected and still represents 100 million base units. Display and format variations: Apps should allow users to switch between the traditional format (1 BTC = 100 million base units) and the new format (1 bitcoin = 1 base unit). The symbol "₿" can be used to denote the base unit of bitcoin (₿ stands for optional). For satoshi and sat: culturally valuable, but official documents and interfaces should uniformly use "bitcoin" as the unique unit name. The following examples are given in the BIP 177 draft proposal document: Old display: 0.00010000 bitcoin → New display: ₿10,000 or 10,000 bitcoins or 0.00010000 BTC Old display: 10.23486 bitcoin → New display: ₿1,023,486,000 or 1,023,486,000 bitcoins or 10.23486 BTC Old display: 0.345 BTC → new display: no change required, or ₿34,500,000...