Crypto giants push to get Bitcoin an emoji

The official Bitcoin emoji is being pushed by over 35 businesses in the cryptocurrency field along with cryptocurrency company Nexo. As stated in the statement from April 2, the goal of the “Bitcoin Deserves an Emoji” project is to garner 50,000 global endorsements.

More than 10,000 people signed the petition in less than a week after it released, and directed at the Unicode Consortium the organization in charge of standardizing emojis on all platforms.

Brink, Bitget, Chainalysis, Kraken, Polygon, Brave, and BTC Inc., among others, support the effort. Co-founder and executive chairman of Nexo, Kosta Kantchev, argues that due to Bitcoin’s popularity and market dominance, it must represented by a “unified symbol on all keyboards.” Kantchev also mentioned:

“With 1.26 billion total Bitcoin addresses and 190,000+ professionals and tech pioneers pushing the global community forward, the Bitcoin Emoji is long overdue.”

In addition to being a symbolic action, the drive for a Bitcoin emoji shows the unity and resolve of the cryptocurrency community to promote Bitcoin’s global adoption.

The goal of the Bitcoin Deserves an Emoji campaign is to gain enough traction to convince Unicode to take action. It draws inspiration from other emoji efforts, such as Taco Bell’s search for a taco emoji and Tinder’s support for an icon featuring an interracial couple.

Eleonor Genova, the head of Nexo’s communications, described the campaign as “the heartbeat of a global movement, resonating with the dreams of a vast community” in an interview with Cointelegraph.

“Emojis, today’s digital lingua franca, play a critical role in how we communicate emotions, intentions, and concepts. For Bitcoin… an emoji would not only symbolize its legitimacy but also serve as an essential tool for education and mainstream acceptance.”

She underlined that the project is a step toward democratizing Bitcoin’s presence, cultivating a greater knowledge and appreciation among the global audience, and contributing to the influence of the cryptocurrency on the world stage, rather than simply calling for representation of the crypto community.

Bitcoin’s Cultural Impact and the Call for an Emoji

Bitcoin’s influence extends beyond cryptocurrency as it gains traction in popular culture, especially since the US Securities and Exchange Commission authorized the nation’s first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January. Imagine Bitcoin, Genova said, “living across billions of screens worldwide as its very own emoji symbol, not just in wallets and exchanges, Crypto Twitter and crypto media.”

She referred to this as the industry’s “collective responsibility” to advance and provide support for every Bitcoin user.

“We’ve moved beyond the jargon of past bull runs and the fear of the past crypto winter; it’s time to recognize Bitcoin for what it truly is  a culture, not just a mere fleeting trend.”

The community’s anticipation for Bitcoin’s expected fourth halving event later this month, coupled with its recent all-time high, has led to a demand for an official emoji.