Samson Mow, long an influential voice in the Bitcoin community, recently unveiled a new metric for measuring Bitcoin. His proposal sparked a heated discussion about altcoin valuations and the psychological impact of unit bias. Mow proposed a new definition for the term “Finney,” changing it to mean one twenty-one millionth of the Bitcoin supply. This proposal seeks to promote Bitcoin’s extreme scarcity and question notions of value in the wider cryptocurrency landscape.
Traditionally, a Finney was used to describe 10 satoshis. Mow’s proposal is a departure in terms of Bitcoin representation. It now represents one twenty-one millionth of the total supply—which in practice is a much bigger number. Mow noted that one twenty-one-millionth of the Bitcoin supply—the value of one Satoshi—is at the highest value in history, worth about $85,000 today.
To help demonstrate his argument, Mow juxtaposed the worth of one twenty-one millionth of Bitcoin to leading altcoins. He refigured their market capitalizations based on a notional supply of just 21 million coins.
"Most alts take advantage of unit bias by utilizing a very high supply, so people can't figure out what they're buying," - Samson Mow
At the time of his calculation, Mow valued one twenty-one millionth of one Ethereum at $9,200. He further appraised XRP at $5,800 and Solana at $3,400. This powerful historical comparison brought his argument home with particular impact. Second, it indicated to me that altcoin valuations are exorbitant given Bitcoin’s fixed supply.
Mow’s proposal brought increased attention to unit bias, a psychological phenomenon that has been shown to negatively impact investors. They just are generally more attracted to assets with lower per-unit price, regardless of total market cap.
"Unit bias is absolutely destroying the uninitiated." - Samson Mow
By framing altcoin valuations in terms of a comparable Bitcoin fraction, Mow sought to expose the perceived absurdity of their values when stripped of this psychological trick.
Mow’s proposal sparked a fascinating discussion about the historical context of the so-called “Finney” unit. It looked at its possibilities as a memorial to first Bitcoin coder and cypherpunk Hal Finney. Chris Krause rightly noted that Bitcoin already has this “Nakamoto” unit. He proposed this idea and a “Finney” would clearly be an appropriate homage to Hal Finney. Walker commented further on seeming overvaluation of altcoins relative to Bitcoin.
Mow's framing reinforces a core tenet of the Bitcoin narrative: its fixed supply of 21 million coins. The conversation surrounding the proposed "Finney" unit underscores the nascent stage of the Bitcoin ecosystem in terms of standardizing discussions around ownership, valuation, and scarcity.
