Background: The Bitcoin community has consistently focused on optimizing user experience, launching custody solutions, promoting regulation, and attracting institutional investors.

Main Event: John Carvalho, CEO and core developer of Synonym, proposed a simplification plan that suggests abolishing the "satoshi" unit and removing decimal points by directly defining the 100 million satoshis that make up 1 Bitcoin as "Bitcoin" itself. For example, a transaction currently displayed as 0.00010000 BTC would be shown as 10,000 BTC under the new system, completely reshaping the metric standard of a "Bitcoin millionaire."

Controversy and Reactions: The proposal quickly sparked controversy. Opponents mocked it with the "pizza theory," deeming the unit expansion absurd; more community members worried that increasing the total supply from 21 million to 21 billion would undermine Bitcoin's core scarcity foundation. However, Carvalho's proposal is quietly gaining support. He posted on the X platform on April 25th that although still a minority, more people are beginning to accept the idea of calling Bitcoin's smallest unit "Bitcoin" and eliminating decimal points.

Potential Impact: If adopted, the proposal could fundamentally change Bitcoin's measurement method and user perception, affecting the narrative of Bitcoin's scarcity and market psychology.

PANews reported on April 27 that according to Crypto Briefing, while the Bitcoin community is busy optimizing user experience, launching custody solutions, lobbying for regulation and wooing institutions, John Carvalho, a core developer and CEO of Synonym, proposed a simpler solution: abolish the "satoshi" unit and remove the decimal point to lower the threshold for newcomers to understand. In the BIP proposal in December 2024, he advocated that 100 million "satoshis" split from 1 Bitcoin be directly defined as "Bitcoins", for example, a transaction currently displayed as 0.00010000 BTC will be displayed as 10,000 BTC in the new system, completely reshaping the measurement standard for "Bitcoin millionaires".
 This move quickly sparked controversy. Opponents joked with the "pizza theory": if each slice of pizza is called a "full portion", eight portions must be ordered at a time to meet demand, implicitly mocking the absurdity of unit expansion. More community members are worried that if the total amount is "expanded" from 21 million to 210 billion, it will shake the core foundation of the Bitcoin scarcity narrative. However, Carvalho's proposal may be quietly accumulating strength. On April 25, he posted on the X platform: "Although it is still a minority, more and more people are beginning to accept the idea of calling the smallest unit of Bitcoin 'Bitcoin' and removing the decimal point."

Bitcoin community sparks controversy over proposal to abolish the 'satoshi' unit