<p>To complete the above consensus, let's add that the “BTC” denomination is a construction by analogy mimicking ISO 4217, a standard published by the International Standards Organization, which delineates currency designators, country codes (alpha and numeric), and references to minor units. E.g. GBP, Pound Sterling, USD, dollar, CHF, Swiss franc, etc.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-19T15:14:04.917Z
2011-09-19T15:14:04.917Z
jimwilling
<p>The word Bitcoin was created by <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/229/who-is-satoshi-nakamoto">Satoshi Nakamoto</a> when he published his paper. He did not  explain any terminology details so there is not an "official version" of how it is spelled. </p>

<p>These variations that you saw were created by different people that sometimes try to distinguish the Bitcoin project from the Bitcoin currency or the Bitcoin client. Which is which can usually be understood by the context of the phrase or by asking the person who wrote it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-02T21:21:51.953Z
2015-03-29T11:48:08.150Z
2017-04-13T12:47:33.283Z
nmat
<p>There is a consensus that <em>BitCoin</em> is wrong spelling, incompatible with the original Satoshi article. The Wall Street Journal and The Chronicle of Higher Education advocate use of lowercase <em>bitcoin</em> in all cases, and this convention was also accepted by Wikipedia editors.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-20T13:47:07.410Z
Best answer! New words with unclear meaning are often capitalized. This was the case with "internet" and "web" in the 90's https://www.wired.com/2015/10/should-you-be-capitalizing-the-word-internet/ and the case with many nouns in the 1800's https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10522/capitalisation-of-nouns-in-english-in-the-17th-and-18th-centuries
Alex Millar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-31T12:36:38.057Z
2015-03-31T12:36:38.057Z
Ladislav
<p>The following answer seems to be the consensus judging from <a href="https://bitcoin.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/21/how-do-we-capitalize-bitcoin-or-bitcoin-or-bitcoin">this question on the meta site</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ul>
  <li>Use Bitcoin (with a capital "B") when talking about the
  concept/technology.</li>
  <li>Use bitcoins (no capitalization) when talking about the unit of
  currency (4 dollars - 4 bitcoins).</li>
  <li>Never use BitCoin or BitCoins</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-03T07:17:53.953Z
Pretty much agree. It should be noted that some support library projects use internal capitalisation, such as BitCoinJ. These are unlikely to change and should not affect Bitcoin discussions.
Gary
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-02T20:53:37.257Z
2011-09-02T20:53:37.257Z
2017-03-16T15:49:08.657Z
D.H.
<p>I've seen several capitalizations of the term "bitcoin". What do all these mean?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-02T20:53:33.647Z
See the meta discussion: http://meta.bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/21/how-do-we-capitalize-bitcoin-or-bitcoin-or-bitcoin
Stéphane Gimenez
<terminology>
What is the difference between BitCoin, Bitcoin, and bitcoin?
ripper234
# What is the difference between BitCoin, Bitcoin, and bitcoin?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-09-02)

I've seen several capitalizations of the term "bitcoin". What do all these mean?

**Tags:** terminology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See the meta discussion: http://meta.bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/21/how-do-we-capitalize-bitcoin-or-bitcoin-or-bitcoin  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2011-09-02. Score: 40 | Accepted answer

The following answer seems to be the consensus judging from [this question on the meta site](https://bitcoin.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/21/how-do-we-capitalize-bitcoin-or-bitcoin-or-bitcoin).

> * Use Bitcoin (with a capital "B") when talking about the
>   concept/technology.
> * Use bitcoins (no capitalization) when talking about the unit of
>   currency (4 dollars - 4 bitcoins).
> * Never use BitCoin or BitCoins

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: Pretty much agree. It should be noted that some support library projects use internal capitalisation, such as BitCoinJ. These are unlikely to change and should not affect Bitcoin discussions.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2011-09-19. Score: 8

To complete the above consensus, let's add that the “BTC” denomination is a construction by analogy mimicking ISO 4217, a standard published by the International Standards Organization, which delineates currency designators, country codes (alpha and numeric), and references to minor units. E.g. GBP, Pound Sterling, USD, dollar, CHF, Swiss franc, etc.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2011-09-02. Score: 7

The word Bitcoin was created by [Satoshi Nakamoto](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/229/who-is-satoshi-nakamoto) when he published his paper. He did not explain any terminology details so there is not an "official version" of how it is spelled.

These variations that you saw were created by different people that sometimes try to distinguish the Bitcoin project from the Bitcoin currency or the Bitcoin client. Which is which can usually be understood by the context of the phrase or by asking the person who wrote it.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2015-03-31. Score: 3

There is a consensus that *BitCoin* is wrong spelling, incompatible with the original Satoshi article. The Wall Street Journal and The Chronicle of Higher Education advocate use of lowercase *bitcoin* in all cases, and this convention was also accepted by Wikipedia editors.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Best answer! New words with unclear meaning are often capitalized. This was the case with "internet" and "web" in the 90's https://www.wired.com/2015/10/should-you-be-capitalizing-the-word-internet/ and the case with many nouns in the 1800's https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10522/capitalisation-of-nouns-in-english-in-the-17th-and-18th-centuries  

---

