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715

Bitcoin is Stupid and Does Not Deserve an Emoji (blog post) (thedabbler.patatas.ca)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

361 comments fedilink hide all child comments

35 crypto companies got together to make a change dot org petition called "Bitcoin Deserves an Emoji".

F that

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[–] [email protected] 221 points 3 months ago (20 children)

I don't mind there being an emoji for cryptocurrency. It's a relevant thing in modern society whether we like it or not, so there's no reason it should be excluded. But just not Bitcoin, specifically. Even though Bitcoin is the one that kicked off crypto, it's still a brand name, which would result in auto-rejection according to the Unicode Consortium's guidelines.

If there was a more general-purpose icon/symbol that could represent cryptocurrency in general, that'd be more appropriate. But it can't be Bitcoin.

[–] [email protected] 110 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They already have that, 💩

[–] [email protected] 43 points 3 months ago (5 children)

💩🪙

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 months ago (13 children)

an emoji for cryptocurrency

💩🪙

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (10 children)

I wouldn't think Bitcoin has, or can, be trademarked or copyrighted, as it is an open-source protocol/technology where even the creator is unknown?

Either way there isn't a generic symbol for cryptocurrency. This emoji will go the way of the save icon, where in a couple generations most people will have no idea what it relates to, but know that it's a symbol for cryptos.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

I wouldn't think Bitcoin has, or can, be trademarked or copyrighted, as it is an open-source protocol/technology where even the creator is unknown?

It's still the name of a specific product/service. The issue is partly trademark/copyright, but also partly a matter of neutrality. The Unicode Consortium want to ensure that they're not directly or indirectly endorsing any specific products. If they added a Bitcoin logo, then you'd see every other crypto lining up to get their logos permanently installed on every person's devices, too. Free advertising for life on 99.99% of phones would be hard to pass up.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I mean, we have a symbol for effectively any currency that anyone can or wants to fill out the paperwork for and can demonstrate the basics of "this is a meaningful symbol with more than transient relevance".

They added ₿ in 2016.

https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/category/Sc

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

So, if there's already a symbol in Unicode, the petition doesn't make any sense. They should ask Google and Apple to display the symbol in the emoji list, with a control character to force it as emoji.

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[–] [email protected] 100 points 3 months ago (48 children)

We also need a McDonald’s emoji, Pepsi emoji, Windows emoji and Mastercard emoji. These are also brands that are heavily ingrained in our culture. Probably even more so than Bitcoin.

Or we accept that brands like Bitcoin shouldn’t use emoji as a marketing tool.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Probably even more so

probably? shitcoin isn't even in the same ~~ballpark~~ universe as something like McDonald's or Pepsi.

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 3 months ago

It already has a codepoint. ₿

[–] [email protected] 49 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

You don't get a new Emoji by creating a change .org petition lol

You need to write a proper proposal and send it to the Unicode consortium: https://unicode.org/emoji/proposals.html. If it gets rejected, it's four years until you can reapply for the same Emoji.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (2 children)

A Bitcoin emoji was rejected in 2020 i doubt it will be any different this time.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (16 children)

Short reminder that Bitcoin was created as a reaction on the world finance crisis and to allow people like Assange to receive donations, because PayPal and similar just blocked them...

That does not mean that Botcoin is perfect, but: If the alternative system was perfect, there was not bitcoin.

Now, do we need an emoji? I don't care TBH..

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

If boobs don't have their emoji, bitcoin doesn't deserve it either!

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

Emoji? Why not unicode character like $ or €?

Edit: Dear OP, please stop popularizing these ₿rat's marketing ideas

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This is how you end up with weird Unicode characters like 𖡄.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Your comment lead me to this overview:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Unicode_chart_Bamum_Supplement

Here you'll find all the evergreens such as these, among many others:

𖠈 𖡠 𖢍 𖢯 𖣞 𖣐 𖤗 𖥓 𖤫 𖧌 𖨰

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago

₿ like this?

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[–] AnAmericanPotato 28 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This will likely be rejected for one the same reasons that they decided they would not add any new flag emojis. Flags come and go. Bitcoin hasn't even been around for 20 years yet, and its future is highly uncertain.

Also, considered as a currency, it would be better as a regular text character, not an emoji. Like $, €, ¥, £, etc.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (8 children)

I actually don't mind it being added as a text character because then I can actually use it. Using it as an emoji is useless to everyone other than the crypto bros that want to spam it on Twitter.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 months ago

It already exists: ₿

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

Technically, emoji doesn't even have specific flags, they just have country codes, conforming to the ISO list - actually choosing which flags will be included is up to the individual implemeters. Regional flags got a little bit complicated because they need to establish the conventions first.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Cryptocurrency is speedrunning ruining everything. We might as well have a laugh at the cryptobros' expense in the meantime.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 months ago (5 children)

I loved the concept at first, the idea of a decentralized currency all handled by encryption, and transactions permamently stored in a public ledger for all to see.

Then the cryptobros and the scammers caught wind of it and it's all downhill from there.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (20 children)

If you want the name of a payment techology that isn't snake oil, isn't blockchain-based, isn't a cult, doesn't claim to be a currency, doesn't work on proof-of-work or proof-of-stake, but actually does provide certain privacy guarantees for your basic purchasing needs, is cryptographically secure, and can be used with only FOSS, I recommend looking into GNU Taler.

The only downside is that it's not really supported anywhere at all yet. But I do hope it becomes a real thing some day.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Suggestion: We do with the Bitcoin emoji what people did with the eggplant emoji. The B stands for butthole. So now we can do [eggplant emoji] [bitcoin emoji].

I'm sure the TOTALLY NOT HOMOPHOBIC tech bros will love it.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (3 children)

fighting for bitcoin to get an emoji is stupid, but fighting against it might be even stupider. surely there are more important things to spend your time and energy on. it's a fucking emoji. who cares?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (11 children)

normalizing scams, by laundering their image via standards organizations, pollutes our communications environment. Both an emoji and a petition are symbolic - and our symbols are in fact important.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago

#bitcoinscam #tetherfraud

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It was a mistake that the Unicode people started to add emoji of their own at all ever in the first place.

My understanding is that emoji were originally added because they existed in other preexisting standards. They should have kept it at that. Now we get public discussions what concepts are important enough to "deserve" emoji, which is a stupid, pointless discussion that could have been avoided if they had not started doing that. We were able to communicate just fine before emoji were a thing.

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