Bitcoin (BTC) Needs a New Unit of Measurement to Address Unit Bias

On April 19th, 2025, JAN3 CEO Samson Mow (@Excellion) ignited a conversation on X about how we perceive Bitcoin and altcoin value — and whether Bitcoin needs a new unit of measurement for its rarest slice.

JAN3 CEO Samson Mow has sparked a conversation about how we perceive Bitcoin and altcoin value, and whether the former needs a new unit of measurement for its rarest slice.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mow initially observed that one twenty-one millionth of the Bitcoin supply (which is about one Bitcoin) currently costs around $85,000. He then compared this to altcoins by recalculating their market capitalizations as if they too had only 21 million coins, estimating that one twenty-one millionth of Ethereum would cost $9,200, XRP would cost $5,800, and Solana would cost $3,400.

His method highlighted the impact of unit bias—the psychological trick where investors are drawn to assets that appear “cheap” simply because there are more units outstanding.

“Most alts take advantage of unit bias by utilizing a very high supply, so people can't figure out what they're buying,” Mow wrote. “Unit bias is absolutely destroying the uninitiated.”

To address the difficulty of referring to such a precise fraction of Bitcoin, Mow proposed adopting the term “Finney”—historically defined as 10 satoshis—for one twenty-one millionth of Bitcoin’s supply.

“No one needs a unit for 10 sats, but we do need an easy to way refer to 1/21 million of Bitcoin.”

The proposal triggered a flurry of responses across the Bitcoin X. FractalEncrypt joked, “let's call it a Bitcoin and I'll submit a BIP with cringe AI memes,” while Channing Griffin argued that owning 1/21 millionth of the supply is already implicit with the term one Bitcoin, and there is no need for a new term like “Finney.”

Sani suggested whimsical alternatives like “Finnaire,” “Finnero,” or “Haltaire,” playing on Bitcoin's rising image as “digital aristocracy.”

Chris Krause noted that since there is already a “Nakamoto” unit for Bitcoin, a “Finney” could be a fitting tribute to early Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney.

Beyond the unit discussion, Mow’s broader point—that altcoin valuations appear absurd when stripped of unit bias—resonated with many. Walker remarked on how overvalued altcoins seem. Swiss Hodler bluntly stated, “the alts are worth zero. The crypto bros just don't know it yet.”

Based UTXO reminded readers that many altcoins do not even have a true supply cap, which further undermines their long-term value propositions.

The conversation showed just how early the Bitcoin ecosystem still is when it comes to standardizing how ownership, valuation, and scarcity are discussed. Whether “Finney” catches on or not, Mow’s framing reinforced a key Bitcoin message: there will only ever be 21 million.