Coinbase Makes Adjustments to 'Bits' Display, Giving Away 100 Bits to New Users

Coinbase is making some changes in the way it handles its 'bits' feature.

Last year, the wallet service introduced an option to display amounts in bits, or one millionths of a Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term. Now, it will be the default setting for all new users, a furtherance of Coinbase's stated belief that in the future, bits will be the common denomination of bitcoin transactions. Users still have the option to disable the feature.

Even so, it is often awkward to express commonly transacted sums (e.g. $5.00) in bits (20,010.47), although it can be equally awkward in BTC (0.02004). Coinbase will therefore be rounding displayed amounts to the nearest whole bit, the exact amount of which can be viewed by mousing over the figure.

The transaction list will also have decimals lined up to make it easier to visually scan through the numbers. Amounts expressed in BTC will be rounded to four decimal places, which will allow for proper alignment for the vast majority of transactions.

As part of the changes, Coinbase says it will be giving away 100 bits ($0.024) to each new user.