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In what some view as a landmark move, Google developers have added the bitcoin currency symbol to the iOS keyboard. The move, by a company so successful itâs evolved its domain name into a verb, reflects Bitcoinâs mainstream trajectory.
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An Unlikely Love Story: Apple, Bitcoin and a Currency Symbol
The bitcoin symbol, which has seen deployed in a shortcuts app to aid Siri with command execution, is available on the Google Keyboard on iOS devices. Appleâs native keyboard does not have this functionality.
Standing tall among the worldâs greats, behold Googleâs new bitcoin currency symbol.
A Reddit user explained how to produce the key manually: âIf any of you guys want to be able to type it, the Unicode code point it: U+20BF. For me, on Linux this means hitting Ctrl-Shift-U then releasing and typing 20BF or 20bf since caps donât seem to matter which produces a nice âż.â
For Windows, another user proved just why an Android symbol would be very welcome indeed: âOn windows, you first have to edit the registry. In order to enable a universal (independent of language settings) input method in Windows, one can add a string type (REG_SZ) value called EnableHexNumpad to the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Input Method and assign the value data 1 to it. Users need to log off/in on Windows 8.1/8.0, Windows 7, and Vista or reboot on earlier systems after editing the registry for this input method to start working. Then, holding ALT and typing â+20BFâ should give âż.â
Itâs unclear why Google has opted to add the bitcoin symbol to Appleâs interface and not yet to that of Android. Appleâs penchant for privacy is a good fit for bitcoin users, yet its wallet-gobbling insistence on proprietary software is in direct contrast to Bitcoinâs â and Googleâs, for that matter â open-source nature. With most privacy-minded individuals opting for Android over iOS, itâs thus slightly ironic that the bitcoin symbol, a currency arguably geared towards the privacy-conscious, is available exclusively on iOS. Even more ironic is the fact that most iOS users tend to use the native Apple keyboard as opposed to the Google version, pointing to Googleâs permissions requirement as an adoption deterrent.
From Brand Recognition to Brand Adoption in a Single Keystroke
If brand recognition is any indication of eventual mainstream acceptance then Googleâs addition of a bitcoin currency symbol to its native iOS keyboard is a sizeable arrow pointing in the right direction.
The symbol now features on the Google keyboard currency strip alongside the dollar, euro, yen, pound, Korean won, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, and the cent symbol.
Itâs alluring to fall into the honey trap that this spells significant news. The tech conglomerate, which under the guise of parent company Alphabet co-founder and president Sergey Brin once admitted that it âfailed to be on the bleeding edge [of blockchain]â is finally coming around. That Alphabet is going Bitcoin, and then â just maybe â crypto. (Especially in light of Googleâs AI defining bitcoin as a âcollapsed economic bubbleâ or making the cryptocurrency industry the butt of a launch joke.)
After all, in the period 2012-2017, Google placed second as the most active corporate investor in the blockchain space. And rumors regarding a cryptocurrency of Googleâs own making have been circulating for a while, but that seems far-fetched, with Brin admitting as recently as last year that he doesnât know âa whole lot about cryptocurrencyâ save for an amateur ethereum mining rig heâd set up with his son.
Offering a Window Into the Worldâs Collective Conscious
While the addition of a bitcoin currency symbol certainly shows Google isnât turning a blind eye on the world of crypto, this latest news is unlikely to signal Alphabetâs foray into the land of cryptopia. Instead, for a company that makes billions out of listening to us ask questions, itâs only natural that they would give us what we want. According to Google Trends, the search query âWhat is bitcoinâ was the yearâs top in the U.S. and U.K. in 2018. A company that, in laymanâs terms, âowns the internetâ can only stay top by doing what it does best: playing host to the globeâs digital hive mind. And if that collective mind wants bitcoin, then bitcoin is what itâll get.
The ivory tower where cryptocurrency ads go to die or currency symbols to be born.
Google has a significant effect on the cryptocurrency market. Unlike other movers and shakers holding the stock market in the palm of their hands, itâs primarily a content ledger, whether that content is organic or paid. Yet when the bitcoin price dropped by 11 percent after Google announced it would follow in Facebookâs footsteps and restrict the display of crypto ads in 2018 (a ban thatâs since partially been lifted), it drove home the reality that Google has more of a say in crypto-land than many would like.
Time will tell what cascading effect the addition of the bitcoin symbol will have in the minds of everyday iOS users. And, of course, when Android users will get to greet the new family member.
What do you make of the addition of a bitcoin currency symbol to iOS? Tell us in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Reddit.Â
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