You’re keeping the books and running the numbers. If you have money in dollars, euros, pounds, Excel has your back. But, what if you have Bitcoin? If you were creative, you may have used the symbol for the Thai currency, which looks a bit like the Bitcoin symbol but with only one strikethrough. If you have the most recent version of Microsoft Excel, you now have another option.
The most recent launch of Microsoft’s spreadsheet software now allows users to select the Bitcoin symbol from among other currencies.
This certainly means something to Bitcoin users who keep track of their finances on Excel. However, crypto enthusiasts are framing it as something much more significant.
What’s the News?
The word around the Bitcoin symbol being added to Excel has really blown up since crypto enthusiast Dennis Parker tweeted about it earlier this week.
Some users suggested that the Bitcoin symbol has actually been available on the software for a while. Unfortunately, Microsoft Excel updates are released with little fanfare, making it difficult to determine exactly when this particular update was released. Since it’s not available in the free version of Office that is part of the Outlook suite, it’s likely that the update is fairly recent.
As far as spreadsheet software goes, the update is pretty flashy. After all, you probably haven’t thought of updating your spreadsheet software in a while – I’m running 2013 on my laptop. That’s partially because there are a lot of free options. It’s also because one edition doesn’t really seem to be that different from the previous edition.
Incidentally, the Bitcoin symbol is also not available on Google Sheets, the free spreadsheet software that comes with Google accounts.
What Does It Mean?
Screenshot – Bitcoin symbol in the latest version of Excel
That you can now use the Bitcoin symbol with your spreadsheet software is pretty neat. However, Bitcoin enthusiasts are reading a little more into it.
Some sources have said that the update means that Bitcoin is “officially mainstream”. Indeed it is easy to see the update as a way of meeting a growing demand. It’s easy to look at this as more writing on the wall saying that cryptocurrency is here to stay.
More than that, it’s easy to note that Bitcoin gets a symbol but other popular altcoins like Ethereum don’t. After all, “crypto tribalism” is alive and well and the fact that Bitcoin gets this kind of representation is a nice feather in the hat for Bitcoin fans.
What Does It Mean to You?
This Excel update, whether it’s new or whether it flew under the radar for a while, is pretty exciting. It might be a little exciting because now it’s a little bit easier to keep track of non-traditional finances. It might be really exciting because it’s a sign of the crypto adoption we’ve all been waiting for. You might be excited because it lets you brag to your friends who like altcoins.
Whatever the reason is, there’s nothing wrong with being excited.
