How to type Bitcoin
To type Bitcoin (₿), press No alt code on Windows, holding Alt while typing the digits on the numeric keypad, or write ₿ in HTML. On any system you can copy it from this page, or enter its codepoint U+20BF directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 20bf on Linux, or 20bf then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Bitcoin Sign
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+20BF
- Windows
- No alt code
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | No alt code | |
| Mac | N/A | Press the keys together. |
| HTML | ₿ | Paste this into HTML source. |
| Unicode | U+20BF | BITCOIN SIGN |
Other currency symbols
₿ lives in the Currency Symbols block (U+20A0-U+20CF), currency signs added after Latin-1, including the euro. Within Unicode it is classified as Sc, a currency symbol. Formatting libraries recognise it when rendering money. Its bidirectional class makes it a European number terminator, so it sits beside a number without breaking its direction.
What Bitcoin is used for
Unicode publishes a second list of names for ₿ in CLDR, the keywords its own search data offers rather than the formal name, and it is btc. That word is what somebody looking for this character is liable to type when Bitcoin is not the name they know it by, and the search on the symbol lists matches it as well as the Unicode name.
What Unicode says about Bitcoin
Unicode annotates ₿ directly. Against U+20BF the code chart carries the note “A cryptocurrency”. That is the standard saying what the character is for, rather than an inference from its name.
How Bitcoin behaves in software
₿ takes one column in a terminal. It carries no direction of its own, so in a line that mixes English with Arabic or Hebrew it takes the direction of the text around it rather than forcing one.
Every way to write Bitcoin
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+20BF |
| Decimal | 8383 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 82 BF |
| UTF-16 bytes | 20 BF |
| HTML entity | ₿ |
| HTML numeric | ₿ or ₿ |
| CSS | \20BF |
| JavaScript | \u20BF |
| Python | \u20BF |
| URL-encoded | %E2%82%BF |
| SVG | 20BF.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ₿ arrives as â‚¿
Its three UTF-8 bytes E2 82 BF are being read one at a time as Windows-1252. The text is undamaged; the reader has to be told it is UTF-8.