The Bitcoin symbol (₿) was added to the unicode consortium

On June 20, 2017, the Unicode Consortium, which oversees the Unicode computing text standard, made a significant update to its character set by adding the Bitcoin “B” symbol to Unicode version 10.0. This addition was a milestone for the bitcoin community, as it provided a standardized way to represent Bitcoin across various text platforms and software applications.
 

The journey to include the Bitcoin symbol in Unicode began years earlier, with efforts dating back to as early as 2011. An initial proposal by Sander van Galoven was rejected, but the persistent efforts of the community paid off when technology blogger Ken Shirriff submitted a proposal for the Bitcoin symbol, which was the classic “B” with two vertical lines through it. Shirriff’s proposal was accepted by the Consortium, and after a period of anticipation, the symbol was officially included in the Unicode standard.
 

The inclusion of the Bitcoin symbol in Unicode was more than just a technical update; it was a recognition of the growing importance of Bitcoin in the global financial landscape. The symbol, denoted by the Unicode code point U+20BF, allowed users to type the Bitcoin symbol directly from their keyboards, facilitating easier communication and documentation of Bitcoin-related information. Before its addition, similar-looking symbols, like the Thai Baht (฿), were often used as a stand-in because there was no official Unicode symbol for Bitcoin.
 

The update to Unicode version 10.0 included 8,518 new characters, with the Bitcoin symbol being one of the notable additions under the category of “important symbol additions.” The official Bitcoin symbol, represented by the character U+20BF (₿), has since been supported by various platforms, including macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, and several Linux releases.