The Bitcoin symbol is ₿, and you can copy it from the button below and paste it anywhere. To type it instead: in Word, type 20BF and press Alt+X; on Windows in a Unicode-aware app, hold Alt and type 8383 on the numeric keypad; on a Mac, use the Character Viewer. Its Unicode code point is U+20BF, officially named the Bitcoin Sign.
What the ₿ symbol is
₿ is the currency sign for Bitcoin. Unicode added it in version 10.
0 (June 2017) at code point U+20BF, so it renders on any reasonably current device. It is a capital B with two vertical strokes running through it, top and bottom.
Do not confuse it with the Thai baht sign ฿ (U+0E3F), which is a B with a single stroke. Before the Bitcoin sign existed, people borrowed the baht sign to stand in for it, so old posts and logos still mix the two. The coin is also written as the ticker codes BTC or XBT, which are plain letters, not this glyph.
Bitcoin symbol codes
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Symbol | ₿ |
| Unicode name | Bitcoin Sign |
| Code point | U+20BF |
| Unicode value (hex) | 20BF |
| Decimal value | 8383 |
| Windows Alt code | No standard Alt code (20BF then Alt+X in Word in Unicode-aware apps only; numpad required) |
| Word (Alt+X) | Type 20BF, then press Alt+X |
| Mac | Character Viewer (Ctrl+Cmd+Space); no Option shortcut |
| Chromebook / Linux | Ctrl+Shift+U, then 20bf |
| HTML (numeric) | ₿ (decimal) or ₿ (hex) |
| CSS escape | \20BF |
| Excel / Google Sheets | =UNICHAR(8383) |
Two numbers describe this character and they are not interchangeable. The hex value is 20BF, used by Word’s Alt+X and by CSS; the decimal value is 8383, used by the Alt-key method and =UNICHAR(). Do not type 20BF into an Alt code, and do not feed 8383 to Alt+X.
How to type the Bitcoin symbol on any device
Windows
There is no standard Alt code for ₿, because it sits outside both the CP1252 and CP437 tables that ordinary Alt codes read from. In a Unicode-aware app such as WordPad or LibreOffice, you can hold Alt, type 8383 on the numeric keypad, then release. It needs a real numpad and it fails silently in apps that do not support it, so the dependable route is Character Map.
Open Character Map, tick Advanced view, type bitcoin in the search box, select the glyph, then click Copy. The emoji and symbol panel (Win + .) is the quickest paste source if you only need one.
Mac
Macs have no Alt codes, and there is no Option shortcut for the Bitcoin sign. Press Ctrl + Cmd + Space to open the Character Viewer, type bitcoin in its search field, and double-click ₿ to drop it into your text. After the first use it stays in the Recently Used tray.
Word, Excel and PowerPoint
In Word, type 20BF and press Alt+X; Word converts it to ₿ on the spot. This also works in Outlook and OneNote. It does not work in Excel or PowerPoint; in those, open Insert → Symbol, set the character code to 20BF (hex), and insert.
In Excel you can also generate the glyph inside a cell with the formula =UNICHAR(8383), which is handy for labelling a column of holdings.
Google Docs and Sheets
In Google Docs, go to Insert → Special characters, type bitcoin or draw the shape in the sketch box, and click the result. Google Sheets has no such menu, so use =UNICHAR(8383) in a cell, or paste the glyph in. To use an OS input method inside a cell, press F2 first to enter edit mode.
iPhone and Android
Neither phone keyboard has a ₿ key, and the currency long-press on the “123” layout does not include it. The fastest fix is to copy it once and save a shortcut.
On iPhone, go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement, paste ₿ into the Phrase field, and set a shortcut like btcsign. On Android with Gboard, add ₿ under Settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary with the same shortcut.
Chromebook
ChromeOS has no Alt codes, so a USB numpad will not help. Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 20bf (the hex value, no U+ prefix), then press Enter or Space; a small underlined u appears while you type. Some web text boxes swallow the shortcut, so if nothing shows up, use the symbol picker at Launcher + Shift + Space or just paste.
Notion, Slack, Discord and Canva
None of these apps has a built-in shortcut or emoji shortcode for the Bitcoin sign, so paste it. If you type it often, set an operating-system text replacement as above, so btcsign expands to ₿ everywhere: inside Slack messages, Discord chat, Notion pages and Canva text boxes.
On a website (HTML and CSS)
There is no named HTML entity, so use the numeric form: ₿ (decimal) or ₿ (hex). In CSS content, escape it as \20BF. Set the page to UTF-8 and the glyph renders without any entity at all.
Where you’ll use the ₿ symbol
You will see ₿ beside balances in wallets and on exchanges, in price tickers, on invoices that accept crypto, and in social bios and usernames. In a spreadsheet, people head a holdings column with it. It reads faster than spelling out “Bitcoin,” the way $ and the other entries in this world currency symbols list do for national money.
Need other money glyphs while you are here? The copy-and-paste symbols tool keeps currency, math and punctuation in one grid, so you can click through several without hunting each one down.
Related currency guides
- Israeli shekel symbol (₪) — another currency sign with no Alt code, typed the same way.
- Ghana cedi symbol (₵) — a letter-with-a-stroke design in the same vein as Bitcoin’s.
- Polish zloty symbol (zł) — a two-letter mark you’ll paste more than type.
- Australian dollar symbol (A$), when a plain $ needs disambiguating.
- Canadian dollar symbol (C$), the same idea for CAD.
- Browse all currency symbol guides.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the Bitcoin symbol show up as a box or blank square?
The glyph is missing from the font you are using. U+20BF was only added to Unicode in 2017, so very old systems and some narrow fonts do not include it and draw a placeholder box instead. Update the operating system or switch to a font like Segoe UI, Noto Sans or Arial that carries it; the character is fine, only the display font is short.
Is there a Bitcoin Alt code for Windows?
There is no standard Alt code, because ₿ is not in the CP1252 or CP437 tables that Alt codes use. In a Unicode-aware app you can hold Alt and type 8383 on the numpad, but that is unreliable across apps. In Word, type 20BF then press Alt+X; anywhere else, paste the glyph.
What’s the difference between ₿ and ฿?
₿ (U+20BF) is the Bitcoin sign, a B with two strokes. ฿ (U+0E3F) is the Thai baht sign, a B with one stroke.
They look alike and were once used interchangeably for Bitcoin, but they are separate characters. Check the code point if you need the correct one.
Can I use ₿ in a username or bio?
Usually yes. Most platforms accept it in display names and bios because it is a standard Unicode character. Some sign-up fields strip non-ASCII input, so if the symbol will not save, the platform is filtering it and there is no fix beyond leaving it out.
Why does ₿ look different from BTC?
₿ is the currency glyph; BTC and XBT are three-letter currency codes, like USD or EUR. Exchanges and accounting tools tend to use BTC in data fields and ₿ in display text. They refer to the same money.